When Amelia Jarolim started at UCSF as a Zero Waste Fellow in October 2025, she was looking forward to learning about the various UCSF hospitals where she might make a difference.
Now, nearly a year later, Jarolim reflects on the ways that the internship helped her grow and the impact she was able to have on different hospital communities.
Jarolim worked closely with UCSF Health’s newest hospitals, Stanyan and Hyde, where she helped implement the Waste Standardization Program, an effort to meet San Francisco’s waste-sorting mandates through uniform waste stations, eye-level signage, and team training.
“I didn't even really expect that I would be working at Stanyan or Hyde, but I'm really happy that I was able to. Because these hospitals are a lot smaller, I was able to understand the culture of each hospital and work closely with different directors and green teams.”
During her time at UCSF, Jarolim installed over 100 bins and conducted 35 staff trainings with teams, reaching approximately 400 community members.
Jarolim took over 100 waste, recycling, and compost bins (left) and installed them with proper bin liners and storage (right).
“I had a lot of interactions where people were really grateful that we were bringing these programs over there. There was a good sense of morale when people were excited about bringing composting and recycling. That was super rewarding.”
Contamination decreased in the landfill, recycling, and compost for both Hyde (left) and Stanyan Hospitals (right).
Thanks to Jarolim's work, overall waste bin contamination decreased significantly at both hospitals, with a 42.24% reduction at Hyde and 44% reduction at Stanyan.
At training sessions, Jarolim drew parallels between sustainability mandates, such as proper waste sorting, and the Hippocratic Oath: “First, do no harm.”
Jarolim tabling on behalf of the Office of Sustainability.
I think hospitals and sustainability have very similar mantras, in a hospital we're protecting patient's health, and then in sustainability we are protecting the environment’s health.
Jarolim was able to draw from her prior experience at SFO, where she learned how to conduct waste audits and researched the implementation of plant-forward menus with vendors.
“It inspired me to pursue zero waste and provided a technical background. Coming to UCSF, I gained a lot of experience, hands on. While I was here, I was really able to hone in on that [knowledge] and actually carry it out.”
This internship also gave Jarolim the opportunity to grow as a facilitator, develop a deeper understanding of sustainability, and write stories for the Office of Sustainability newsletter.
“I was a little bit hesitant because sometimes I'm more reserved, so I was proud that I was able to step into a role that required a lot of leadership."
Jarolim poses with Office of Sustainability team members at the annual Waste to Art exhibit.
It really forced me to become an expert on my project and an expert in sustainability.
In terms of what is next for Jarolim, her experience leading trainings has led her to pursue teaching, and she’s started working as a sustainability schools associate for StopWaste.
“By protecting the planet, we're also just going to be protecting people's health. By protecting the planet's health, we'll also have fewer people in danger or in harm going to the hospital. They do go very hand in hand.”