Stage 1: Atlas Zero
Waste Certification®

Fellows perform a holistic assessment to measure the campus’s capacity to achieve zero waste.

A student or staff Fellow is trained on how to use our Campus Programs Checklist to perform interviews with stakeholders, compile campus resources and policies, and synthesize waste and material management reports.

This process takes place in a cohort model, where a group of Fellows across the US meet weekly to learn, troubleshoot, and share victories together.

Upon completion of the interviews, the Checklist is scored to give the campus its zero waste score and certification level.

This process lays the foundation for institutional goal setting and the ability to benchmark and track progress.

Stage 1 takes place over one semester.

Learn More about Certification

A chart with a light pink background showing the Top 10 Certified Campuses in 2023 based on Atlas scores. 1st is College of the Atlantic at 73.5%, 2nd is University of California Berkeley at 67.8%, 3 is Cal Poly Humboldt at 67.16%, 4th is Williams College at 63.4%, 5th is Carleton College at 61.8%, 6th is Haverford College at 61.3%, 7th is Wesleyan University at 60.43%, 8th is University of Connecticut at 59.9%, 9th is Macalester College at 59.6%, and 10th is University of Massachusetts Lowell at 58.8%.

View All Campus Scores

Three students are walking to the right; one is holding a map, one is on crutches, and the last pointing ahead. Two paper airplanes and a pointed purple sign reading “Zero Waste” guide their way.

Stage 2:
Strategic Visioning

Fellows facilitate campus stakeholders through a constructive process to establish a Strategic Vision to achieve zero waste.

Visioning allows stakeholders to review the Stage 1 Report and engage with possible long-term solutions without the limitations of current systems, logistics, staffing and budgets.

This process seeks to answer the question: “What do we NEED to achieve zero waste?”

The Strategic Vision serves as a proposal to campus administration for establishing cross-departmental solutions to sustainable materials management.

View a sample Strategic Vision from University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Stage 2 takes place over one semester.

Learn More about the Strategic Vision

Stage 3:
Action Planning

Fellows conduct research and work with stakeholders to establish a Zero Waste Action Plan.

Sessions take place with key campus stakeholders to build a detailed implementation strategy, including cross-departmental collaboration, accountability reporting structure, budget, and expected timeline.

To move from Stage 2 to 3, stakeholders should present the Strategic Vision as a proposal to Admin (Provost, President or Trustees) and receive approval.

The Zero Waste Action Plan requires institutional capacity to invest in strategic initiatives, establish infrastructure, and increase staffing.

Stage 3 takes place over one year (2 semesters + summer).

A dark blue globe. The Atlas arrow shape forms the base of the globe and an arrow that is spinning around the Earth.

Meet the Fellows

“Being part of the Zero Waste Atlas Fellowship has been an inspiring and fun journey as well as an eye opener and a realization of how we can continuously improve. It enjoyed connecting and learning with students from other campuses, and the weekly check-ins made me reflect on campus structures, abilities to make change, and how we can learn from each other.”

Katrine Oesterby

College of the Atlantic (Fellowship Class of Summer 2020)