Things You Can Do: Recycling
The University recycles aluminum, glass, plastic, paper and cardboard. There are conveniently-placed containers in all buildings.
What can you do? Focus on what you are putting in the trash! Recycle everything you can. A plastic baggie from your sandwich can be reused. Get a reusable water bottle/coffee mug to cut back on trash and save some money!
Remember the 4-R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Re-buy. Reduce what you use, reuse material if you can, recycle what you can’t reuse and then rebuy. Re-buy means purchase recycled content material, thus creating a market for the material we recycle.
Paper and Cardboard: Large blue rolling ‘toters’ around campus accept all types of paper. This includes white office paper, colored paper, glossy paper (like magazines), books, junk mail, manila envelopes, file folders, chipboard (like cereal boxes). Pretty much anything that used to be a tree can go in these. Please no food containers, waxed paper or similar. Small pieces of cardboard can be placed in the toters. Larger cardboard boxes can be flattened and put behind the toter like in this photo.
Results: Most years approximately 250 tons of paper and 100 tons of cardboard.
Bottles and Cans: Aluminum cans, tin cans, glass bottles and plastic bottles (#1 and #2 plastics only) are collected from the bins labeled for this use. These are picked up, sorted and delivered to recycling centers.
Results: Over 55,000 lbs of these containers per year.
About half this comes from the residence halls alone.Toner and Ink Cartridges: Please save these and either email or call Facilities Operations and Maintenance at (775) 784-8020 for pickup.
Other Recyclable Items: While these are the main materials that most campus members will recycle, the University also recycles many other materials, including:
- E-waste (electronics; computers, monitors, fax machines, etc)
- Fluorescent light tubes
- Scrap Metals (all types, including material from plumbing and electrical shops)
- Pallets
- Landscaping Waste (chipped and used for mulch)
- Batteries (rechargeable only)
- Used motor oil
- Used anti-freeze
Learn More
» Learn more about the University's Recycling Program
» Learn more about Campus Sustainability: Recycling/Waste Management