WASTE MINIMIZATION AND RECYCLING

The campus community is constantly searching for ways to reduce the amount of waste we generate and recycle all possible materials. Take a look at what we’ve been doing.

• The University has a comprehensive recycling program.
  • In the past year alone, we recycled the following:
    • Co-mingled glass, metal and plastic containers: 105 tons
    • Cardboard: 198 tons
    • Paper: 125 tons
    • Compost: 135 tons
    • Ink and battery: 2 tons
    • Scrap metal: 6 tons
    • Waste oil: 2 tons
  • As a result of these efforts (not counting scrap metal or waste oil), the University saved more than $22,600!

• Binghamton also engages in a number of recycling efforts:
  • The University is a regular participant in RecycleMania, a friendly competition among hundreds of colleges and universities in the U.S. that provides the campus community with a fun, proactive activity aimed at waste reduction.
  • Each year, the University’s Office of Recycling and Resource Management organizes Move-Out Week, collecting unwanted food and clothing when students leave campus after spring semester. Bins are placed in all residential communities so students can donate items they don’t plan to take home.

• The University’s student-driven Compost Organic Garden Demonstration Project promotes composting and organic gardening through active demonstrations, as well as serves as a field lab for an ecological agriculture course.

• Ever wonder what happens to the mounds of food waste in campus kitchens? Here at Binghamton University, kitchen prep trimmings, spoiled fruit and vegetables, stale bakery items and leftover plate scrapings are composted. Each day during the fall and spring semesters, we collect approximately 2,000 pounds of compostable waste from campus dining halls, the University’s Food Co-op, the main campus kitchen, Jazzman eateries and the greenhouse.

• The University has reduced the amount of disposable items used in dining halls across campus and either recycles or composts close to 90 percent of our current service ware.

• Binghamton University’s janitorial staff uses environmentally friendly, nontoxic, biodegradable cleaners.

• All University employees and students are encouraged to reduce paper use by printing documents only when necessary.