In the 1980s, the “Survival Center” was a group of environmentally-minded student organizers who saw an issue that needed fixing: recyclable items from the UO’s Eugene campus were ending up in landfills. In 1989, the group banded together and started picking up recycling from campus offices. Their on-the-ground recycling efforts and student organizing led to the university’s creation of the Campus Recycling Program in 1991—renamed the Zero Waste Program in 2012.
The first group of student workers for the Campus Recycling Program was hired in 1991. Some came from the Student Survival Center, and others from across campus, like Jeff Ziglinski (not pictured).
This ad was run in The Daily Emerald in September 1992, one year after the Survival Center's efforts were formalized by the university into a recycling program.
Jeff Ziglinski, BA ’92 (sociology), was one of the first paid student workers hired to support the Campus Recycling Program. He returned to the UO as staff in 2001, and today, he serves as the Zero Waste Program’s coordinator, supervising and mentoring current UO students.
“I've always been proud of that—coming from being a student worker and moving into being a coordinator. Doing that role [and mentoring] the students that work for us now has been a great experience,” he shared.
Ziglinski is among a long line of UO alumni leading the way for a more sustainable future on campus—well after graduation. Karyn Kaplan, BA ’77 (general science), was the founding manager of the Zero Waste Program for nearly 30 years. Since Kaplan’s retirement, Phil Chesbro, BA ’07 (history), has taken the helm as the Solid Waste and Zero Waste Operations Manager.
A legacy of leadership
Through Zero Waste’s work, the UO achieves 60–70% waste diversion from the landfill, about 10% better than the surrounding Eugene area. The intentionality the program puts into handling and collecting waste was spearheaded by Kaplan, who was the founding manager of the Zero Waste program.
“[Karyn] was the person who took on so much of that work to push forward an environmental-first recycling and waste handling system for the university. Without her energies, [I don’t think] we would be in the same place that we're in today,” Chesbro said.
He explained that the UO’s approach to recycling is more stringent. By not comingling all recyclables and separating out contaminated waste, the Zero Waste Program ensures that cleaner and more useable recyclables are sent to manufacturers.
The sorting table helps student workers sort through cans, bottles, and incorrectly recycled cups. Chesbro said to-go cups are their number one contaminant.
It takes a lot to keep campus as sustainable as possible. The Solid Waste and Zero Waste Program is staffed by around 20 student workers, maintaining 600 recycling bins. In 2022, the Zero Waste team processed 1,588 tons of recycled material—more than the landfilled material that year by over 500 tons.
“It's not something that people want to think about or talk about. They kind of take it for granted that somebody takes care of [the trash], so I take pride in providing really good customer service. We work really hard to take care of the campus,” Ziglinski said.
Solid and Zero Waste don't just service public-produced waste. They also recycle and compost waste from the dining halls and dining outlets across campus.
Alumni mentorship
Chesbro and Ziglinski honor the mentorship they received from Kaplan by passing on the important lessons of sustainability to the next generation of Zero Waste student workers.
“The students that we're sending out into the world from the university are going to be leaders . . . and so those people who are learning here . . . know exactly what it takes to get materials ready to be recycled and the difference between curbside recycling and what goes out the door towards the different material producers,” Chesbro said.
“I really appreciate the legacy that Karen put forward connecting [Zero Waste] to the student population, making this a student job,” Ziglinski said. “It's great to also have the legacy of students. People are always coming and going with our program: graduating, moving on, or taking different jobs. [The program has] touched a lot of students' lives and hopefully they've taken the recycling ethic that they've learned here out into the world.”
Even though Zero Waste has officially been a university program for over 30 years, Chesbro said that the heart of it is still the same.
“It really is good to have [student workers] as part of an identity. I think that's a powerful thing, to have programs at the UO that feel like their identity still connects to the students,” Chesbro said.
Mairin Blank, class of 2028, is one of the Zero Waste Program’s current student workers. She said that she enjoys the hands-on nature of the job.
“We’re all students and we love this campus. We love Oregon, and we love giving back to our campus,” she said.
Student workers cover eight different routes on campus, as well as recycle processing and maintenance.
That passion for the campus community is something Ziglinski looks for in students.
“It's nice when you get people who are passionate about making a difference and inspired to do something for the greater good. Somebody said ‘Every small effort has built this program.’ I would say [the program is] dedicated to all the people that have participated in it and all the people that will come through the program in the future,” he said.
Mairin Blank, class of 2028, is a student worker with Zero Waste. Pursuing a major in planning, public policy and management, Blank hopes to take the hands-on experience she's gained with the Zero Waste Program into a career in conservation in national parks and forests.
Reinforcing sustainability on campus
As they reflect on their program’s successes, Chesbro and Ziglinski are always thinking ahead on how they can continue to improve, for a better environment. Part of their charge and challenge is educating fellow Ducks on why recycling is important—and how to do it correctly.
"Traditionally, the UO has been an environmentally conscious campus, but it's hard in the consumer-driven world that we live in. You can be as idealistic as possible, but sometimes reality kind of brings you down a little bit, so we always have more work to do because some people don't get it or don't care. But that's part of our drive to always keep trying,” Ziglinski said.
Student workers separate recyclable material from trash, but sometimes the process requires multiple passes before waste can be shipped out.
Last year, Zero Waste launched new signs for recycling bins that are clearer, more concise, and visually distinct so that in the split-second people make the decision to recycle, there’s less of a mental load. The other part of sustainability education is letting people know that “Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.” is in that order on purpose.
Chesbro shared that around 90% of environmental harm has already been done when an item reaches the waste stage, so emphasizing reusable items across campus is one of their biggest missions. At the biannual ASUO Street Faire, the Office of Sustainability even hands out metal sporks to students.
Photo courtesy of the UO Zero Waste Program.
Those moments of education and encouragement reinforce the ethos that Chesbro said Kaplan used to say all the time: “There’s no such thing as away.”
—Photos and story by Sarah Bathke, BA ’25 (journalism), UO Alumni Association Communications Generalist