Campus Recycling

About the Changes:

Campus Recycling has been following significant changes occurring to recycling markets that impact what materials are acceptable for placing in recycling bins on campus (as discussed in a recent Gazette-Times article). We have recently updated our acceptables list in accordance with our local recycling processors’ requirements - please see our updated online recycle guides here.

We have been advised that these new guidelines will be applicable in the foreseeable future. If/when additional changes are made, our online recycle guides will be the first resource we update to keep you informed. Campus Recycling will gradually collect our bin signage and replace them with corrected signs as time allows. We are unable to roll out new signage across campus in the immediate future due to the quantity of bins in service on campus and the uncertainty around the permanency of these guidelines. However, we are implementing a large scale communications plan in fall 2018 to educate the campus community about these new guidelines.

Please note that these guidelines are for the OSU Corvallis campus specifically and recycling elsewhere is different. For those living in the Corvallis area, new guidelines for curbside recycling are available on Republic Service’s website, www.RepublicServices.com/corvallis. For all others, please contact your service provider. Thank you for recycling right!

Items Removed from OSU's Acceptance List:

These items are no longer accepted in general recycle bins on campus.

Paper Items:

• No cartons and aseptic containers (place in trash)
• No butcher paper (place in trash)
• No shredded paper (this material can now be collected separately for recycling if desired)
• No hardback books (this material can now be collected separately for recycling if desired)
• No egg cartons in "Paper" bins (still accepted in "Commingle"/"Mixed Recycling" bins in dining facilities)*
• Still accepted in "Paper" bins across campus but no longer accepted in "Commingle"/"Mixed Recycling" bins at dining facilities or campus events:*
  • Spiral or bound notebooks
  • Packing paper

*Note that OSU sends material from "Paper" bins and "Mixed Recycling" bins to different vendors. Rather than remove the last three items from our acceptables list, we have opted to accept them in one bin type but not the other.

Metal Items:

• No aerosol cans
• No tin containers that are not cans (mints, cookies, tea, etc.)
• No foil
• No metal jar lids

In other words, anything that is not a tin/steel or aluminum can is not accepted.

Note that many of these items can be collected separately for recycling as scrap metal if desired.

Plastic Items:

• No plastic tubs (yogurt, margarine, salsa, etc.)
• No plastic jars (nut butters, etc.)

In other words, anything that is not a bottle or jug is not accepted.

These items need to be placed in the trash.

Changes in Residence Halls:

Starting fall term 2018, recycling in the res. halls is no longer sorted into "Commingle"/"Mixed" and "Glass" containers and instead sorted like the rest of campus - into bins for "Bottles and Cans" and "Paper." This brings more consistency to recycling guidelines for campus.

Additionally, residents are asked to bring their room recycling to a central recycling station added to the ground floor of each res. hall and serviced every weekday (upper floor recycling bins have been removed). Exception: recycle bins in the ILLC are centralized in each kitchen, not on the ground floor (which is a public area).

OSU's New Guidelines:

Please see our updated online recycle guides here.

For More Information:

Contact Andrea Norris via email or at 737-5398.