Before Stanford students step on campus, they will have completed an online waste-sorting module as part of their matriculation process to acclimate them to the school’s sustainable culture and account for potential differences in waste practices from their homes. 

But does that education follow them through all of their days here? Do the eco-friendly practices stick amid the problem sets and exams? Though the University may be sustainable, is a Stanford student truly sustainable? 

“Stanford is training the next generation of sustainability leaders, both intentionally and not,” said Zulie Malone ’26, a resident assistant (RA) for co-op Columbae. At Columbae and other co-ops at Stanford, Malone says sustainability has been a focal point. In fact, she thinks there’s an inherent connection based on the reversal of labor roles. At co-ops, students do all of the cooking and cleaning themselves in shifts, unlike in other traditional dorms across campus. 

Malone also spoke to the complex juxtaposition of Stanford’s student culture and sustainability culture. She noted students do care at a baseline level, but are also incredibly consumed by their own lives.

“There is a big school of people at Stanford who are interested in sustainability in one way or another. Either it’s their major, or it’s the way that they live their personal life,” said Izabella Santos ’26, an environmental systems engineering major. She worked with Julia Hok ’23 M.S. ’25 as a Sustainable Stanford intern to launch the sustainability initiative Big Swap, where students donate and exchange used items.

In terms of percentages, the number of students with sustainability-focused majors is quite small. The newly opened Doerr Sustainability School, for example, makes up just 1% of the student body. Despite that, many student organizations and programs, like Big Swap, Students for a Sustainable Stanford (SSS) and Roble Reuse, are focused on promoting sustainability efforts to bridge the gap. 

“We’re college students. We’re all busy, our lives just kind of keep rolling,” said Malone. “And because we’re at a very well-funded university, we kind of have everything handed to us. So there’s not those direct implications of creating waste and doing things that are not really in line with sustainable values.”

In addition to student efforts, administrators and faculty are making leaps for sustainability. As students focus on their education, groundbreaking research for a sustainable future is underway.

“[Stanford students] are at this cutting-edge research institution that’s leading the way on these detrimental impacts from waste…You’re a student [who’s] sitting next door to somebody who has proven the impacts of plastics on human reproduction or fertility,” said Kristin Parineh, director of sustainability at the Office of Sustainability. “I would hope that that is inspiring, to be a student at an institution that’s leading that research and that knowledge.”

As it stands, Stanford diverts 68% of its waste from the landfill, according to Julie Muir, associate director of Zero Waste Systems in the Office of Sustainability. 

“The cool thing about Stanford’s waste program is, if you get the material into the right bin, if you get the recyclables into the recycling bin and the compost in the compost bin, we have a whole system set up for that material, that it’s going to go right through the system and it’s going to end up where it belongs,” said Muir.

Zero Waste Systems conducted a landfill categorization study to determine exactly which types of waste we still have and where they come from. Over 40% of what is currently going into the landfill is food waste, according to Muir. Food waste is now a focus to help the office move towards its goal of zero waste, which practically means reducing waste by 90% or more. 

“[The Office of Sustainability] doesn’t have a lot of control over what students consume. We try to make sure we have good packaging in terms of cafes and things like that. Or trying to find ways that staff can reduce waste,” said Muir. 

Even as students are diligently trained by sustainability leaders and self-motivated to support efforts, consumption culture persists, past the waste sorting training, past the knowledge of nearby groundbreaking environmental research.

“We had to build Amazon lockers over the summer because of the influx of students ordering packages online,” said Kai Blankenship ’26. “I think the main goal is really trying to divert from this kind of reliance on online shopping.” 

Blankenship is both a living lab fellow through the Office of Sustainability and a co-head of Big Swap with Santos. Through their work with Big Swap, both Blankenship and Santos were able to recognize the social aspect of sustainability. 

“The biggest and most difficult thing is behavioral change, and that is going to be, I think, the key factor in success,” said Blankenship. 

Muir, for example, wants to see the waste sorting as an annual requirement. Other sustainable leaders also recognize freshmen and grad students as the most important groups to target with education right now. 

The Office of Sustainability also has initiatives aimed at reframing consumption for students, such as providing responsible purchasing recommendations or ReUse, a program to exchange used furniture within the Stanford community.

A solution may be to reframe sustainability as a complement to students’ lives. In fact, Blankenship noted that sustainability is something students engage with for different reasons. In her eyes, the importance is that the engagement is happening.

Based on an exit survey conducted by Big Swap, more people reported attending for the social aspect than for donating or shopping.

“‘How can we create campaigns and infrastructure that make it really easy and convenient for students to make the sustainable decision?’ is definitely a priority for us,” said Parineh. “And we will also say that usually, where we see the biggest success is where we have students who are leading and demonstrating these ideal behaviors for other students.” 

Students modeling environmentally friendly behaviors have the potential to be a large influence on other students. Positivity also plays a role in the desired behavioral change. Sustainability leaders like Santos and Blankenship feel they have a lot to be optimistic about right now. 

“When [Santos and I] started here at Stanford is when the Doerr School opened. So just in the [past] four years, I think why we’re so optimistic is we’ve seen so much progress,” said Blankenship. 

“I feel like waste is not a very glamorous thing to talk about, but it could be. It doesn’t have to be a taboo, shameful thing,” said Santos.