The Office of Sustainability is proud that Elon saves more than 83 tons of cardboard, 44 tons of paper-related recyclable materials and 37 tons of plastic, aluminum and glass from being taken to the landfill each year.
But that’s only 30 percent of our waste stream. We can do better, and students, faculty and staff can prove it by:
- Reducing and reusing before recycling. In that order. Get creative by making envelopes from old paper or repurpose bottles for storage and decoration. Using less should come first but remember to recycle everything you can.
- Know what to recycle. Paper, newspaper, magazines, cardboard, plastic (#1, #2, #5), glass (clear, brown, green, and blue), cans (aluminum and steel/tin), batteries, printer cartridges and small electronic items can all be recycled on campus. But just because it has the three arrows doesn’t mean we can accept it on campus so be sure to always check the number.
- Know where to recycle. Remember green-topped bins are for bottles and cans, while blue-topped bins are for paper.
- Participate in Recyclemania! This national competition in which Elon participates begins Feb. 3. During the eight-week competition, Elon competes against other colleges and universities in different contests to see which institution can collect the largest amount of recyclables per capita, the largest amount of total recyclables, the least amount of trash per capita, or have the highest recycling rate.