Sun Devil Hospitality Transitions to Compostable Products

ASU Zero Waste, Sun Devil Hospitality and the Memorial Union transitioned the Tempe campus catering to a zero waste by default model over the 2023–24 academic year. 

This collaborative effort introduced a new approach based on service design principles. 

Sun Devil Hospitality and Student Unions and Centers identified 27 process opportunities and 61 products — or 43% of the disposable product profile to adjust. These opportunities included updating processes, swapping one product for another, placing zero waste messaging in appropriate locations and developing guidelines and training materials. 

The project was soft-launched in December 2023 at the Holiday Coffee event, with a Tempe campus rollout in February 2024. The project is estimated to have eliminated 126,429 single-use plastics from the Tempe locations, and a full projected impact of 379,287 units will be averted by February 2025.

As the teams continue to monitor and control for quality assurance, the Downtown Phoenix, Polytechnic and West Valley campus teams are prepared to activate the service blueprint method to roll out the zero waste by default toolkit across all campus locations soon.