Waste
Explore how Universiti Sains Malaysia measures, reduces and recycles waste across its campuses.
Measuring waste across the whole university
USM keeps monthly records of the waste it generates and the waste it recycles for every campus and operational unit: the Main Campus, the Engineering Campus, the Health Campus, Hospital USM and the Pusat Kanser Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Universiti Sains Malaysia. For each unit, the records separate the waste sent to landfill from the waste recycled. The records are kept in kilograms and reported on this page in tonnes. Waste generated is the sum of the waste sent to landfill and the waste recycled. The monthly landfill figures for the Health Campus and Hospital USM are estimates.
Measuring waste at this level covers the whole university, and it allows USM to see how much waste each unit produces, how much is diverted from landfill through recycling, and how the figures change from month to month.
Waste generated and recycled in 2025
The table shows the waste generated, recycled and sent to landfill by each unit in 2025, in tonnes.
| Unit | Waste generated (tonnes) | Waste recycled (tonnes) | Waste sent to landfill (tonnes) | Share recycled |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Main Campus | 2,458.4 | 784.1 | 1,674.4 | 31.9% |
| Engineering Campus | 29.8 | 0.3 | 29.6 | 1.0% |
| Health Campus | 81.4 | 24.2 | 57.2 | 29.7% |
| Hospital USM | 364.9 | 62.2 | 302.8 | 17.0% |
| Pusat Kanser Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi USM | 14.5 | 4.9 | 9.6 | 33.8% |
| Whole university | 2,949.2 | 875.7 | 2,073.5 | 29.7% |
Across the whole university in 2025, USM generated 2,949.2 tonnes of waste. Of this, 875.7 tonnes (29.7%) were recycled and 2,073.5 tonnes (70.3%) were sent to landfill.
Monthly records for 2025
The monthly records below combine all five units.
| Month (2025) | Waste generated (tonnes) | Waste recycled (tonnes) | Waste sent to landfill (tonnes) | Share recycled |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 242.6 | 73.0 | 169.6 | 30.1% |
| February | 236.1 | 75.4 | 160.7 | 31.9% |
| March | 223.6 | 64.8 | 158.8 | 29.0% |
| April | 243.9 | 66.0 | 177.9 | 27.1% |
| May | 300.5 | 115.3 | 185.2 | 38.4% |
| June | 248.1 | 70.7 | 177.5 | 28.5% |
| July | 250.6 | 66.6 | 184.0 | 26.6% |
| August | 230.8 | 68.7 | 162.1 | 29.8% |
| September | 247.9 | 74.3 | 173.7 | 30.0% |
| October | 242.6 | 69.2 | 173.4 | 28.5% |
| November | 243.4 | 65.5 | 178.0 | 26.9% |
| December | 239.0 | 66.2 | 172.8 | 27.7% |
| Total 2025 | 2,949.2 | 875.7 | 2,073.5 | 29.7% |