After you’re accepted into the University of Oregon, your first experience on campus will probably be an IntroDUCKtion orientation, a program set up to get freshmen and transfer students better acclimated at the UO.

“For me, it was the first time I was actually able to visit the campus, so yeah I thought IntroDUCKtion was pretty important,” said incoming transfer student Tyler Ruxin.

IntroDUCKtion gives incoming students a taste of the UO culture, and what it is that distinguishes the University from others. One of those distinctions is that, according to the Princeton Review, the University is one of the greenest colleges in the U.S.

Since leaving a green footprint is fundamental to the UO community, it only makes sense that the University’s environmentalism is displayed at IntroDUCKtion. For six years now, compost coordinator Phil Chesbro and the rest of the members of the UO Campus Zero Waste Program have achieved that goal.

“The UO has a culture of zero waste,” Chesbro said. “In 2008, 68 percent of materials at IntroDUCKtions were diverted from the landfill. So far this year, over 97 percent of materials have been diverted.”

Of the six IntroDUCKtion sessions that have occurred so far this summer, 841 pounds of materials has been collected. Of those 841 pounds, only 20 pounds have been trash, leaving only three percent to landfills.

A large portion of the 841 pounds comes from the lunches provided to the thousands of incoming students at IntroDUCKtion. Campus catering is doing its part in reducing waste by eliminating potato chip bags, serving condiments in bulk dispensers instead of individual packets, and making sure that all the food ware is compostable. Out of everything that is generated from catering services for the IntroDUCKtion lunches, only plastic wraps for sandwiches are landfill items.

With the zero waste effort at full force, being environmentally conscious at IntroDUCKtion has come to be slightly more expensive than it would be otherwise. But Tom Driscoll, director of food services and University housing, says that the ends overwhelmingly justify the means.

“It is slightly more expensive, but the quality also has gone up,” Driscoll said. “Composting is more costly up front but we have made a commitment to these efforts and believe the payback will be to our environment over time.”

According to transfer student Ruxin, the zero waste initiative is a visible part of IntroDUCKtion because students are involved with the sorting of what’s compostable and what isn’t when they’re done with their lunches.

“It’s pretty safe to say that UO is pretty known for being a really green school,” Ruxin said. “And yeah I’d say that the orientation made a pretty good case of the school being environmentally friendly.”

But the University’s goal isn’t to get students to be conscious about zero waste just for IntroDUCKtion. When incoming freshmen move into their dorms, they’ll have recycling bins in their rooms. Every bin includes a flier about how to produce zero waste and the flyer guides them to properly sort through materials. The University’s goal is to implement a seed of environmental consciousness.

“Each year, we’re refining our program to get better and better at getting closer to a zero waste event,” Driscoll said.