“RECYCLE-WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER!”
Partners in Recycling Education

Recycling on campus is being revamped as NAU/Merriam-Powell Center for Environmental Research has joined forces with Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ), Coconino County, the City of Flagstaff and Willow Bend Environmental Education Center. Together they have created Partners in Recycling Education (PRE) supported by a one-year grant from ADEQ. The Partnership is coordinating regional recycling education and outreach to students, residents and businesses in northern Arizona.

The PRE initiative is directed towards NAU campus communities, Flagstaff Unified School students (K-12), single and multi-family residents and users of Coconino County’s regional recycling centers. The Partnership plans to increase recycling education and awareness through a range of advertising, promotion and community outreach events. Their goal is to increase recycling rates and decrease recyclables going to the Materials Recovery Facility.

Keep an eye out for information and publications from the Partners in Recycling Education around campus and in town! Volunteer opportunities are also available!

RECYCLING AT NAU

Recycling at Northern Arizona University has been ongoing since early 1991, when campus warehouse space (Building 47) was dedicated to the program. Recycling began modestly, with just over 100 tons in the first year. By 1996, this had increased to almost 1200 tons per year, with an average annual tonnage of 1124 between 1994 and 2004. A composting component was added in 2000, and food waste from on-campus dining halls were collected and composted. In the summer of 2005, NAU closed the on-campus facility and entered into a contract with the City of Flagstaff for recycling and trash collection. The new program, and new policy, was announced in June, 2005.

In this new policy, NAU is in a partnership with the City of Flagstaff. The program enables the university to capture recyclable materials while making it easy for faculty, staff, and students to participate.

KEEP IT CLEAN!

Recycling practices vary slightly depending on where you are on campus. This is because the new policy has shifted to what is called “co-mingling.” “Co-mingling” refers to mixed recyclable items in one container, for example paper and aluminum. Wastes are to be bagged separately. If trash contaminates bags of recyclables the entire bag of trash is sent to the landfill so it is important to “keep it clean” and keep wet wastes and food wastes separate from recyclables to avoid contamination in landfills.

Residence halls are still required to dispose of recyclables in green bins and trash in brown/blue bins. There are far more green recycle bins than brown/blue trash bins on campus providing ample opportunity to increase collection of recyclables on campus and decrease landfill contamination. Please follow these links for more site-specific recycling information: Resident Halls, Dining Halls and Administrative/Academic Buildings.

MATERIAL FLOW

Recyclables (green dumpsters) are picked up from NAU and are taken by the City of Flagstaff to the Materials Recovery Facility where they are sorted and sent off for further processing. Trash from NAU (brown/blue dumpsters) is picked up from campus and sent straight to the landfill.  

“To know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived,
that is to have succeeded."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson