Below is a list of questions we frequently receive from campus and community members. We hope this will be a helpful resource for you. If you do not see what you are looking for here, please feel free to contact us with your inquiry!
Facilities Management, in partnership with Waste Management and Republic Services’ ReCommunity Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), offers modified single-stream recycling on campus. You may recycle clean, dry, and empty plastic bottles, aluminum cans, paper and cardboard in any of the recycling containers inside or outside buildings throughout campus. You can leave labels on cans and bottles, and the plastic windows on junk mail can stay in place - no need to remove them before recycling. Keep the lids on plastic bottles and glass jars because loose lids can jam the machinery at the recycling facility. Catalogs and magazines can go in the recycling bins, but bound books cannot.
You can also recycle:
- Clean cardboard milk and orange juice cartons
- Clean aluminum foil and foil pie plates or bakeware
- Phone books
Please note that the following additional items cannot be recycled in the campus bins:
- Bound books - reach out to Jill Burris, our campus’ Recycling & Waste Manager with Facilities Management to coordinate special recycling of bound books
- Plastic straws
- Batteries - visit Tucson Clean and Beautiful for a directory of locations near you that will accept used batteries
- Styrofoam
- Aerosol cans
- Anything smaller than a tennis ball, including
- Sample size plastic containers (lotion, shampoo, etc.)
- Plastic prescription and pill bottles
- Plastic bags*
*The exception is that clear plastic bags can be used for shredded paper. Shredded paper can only be recycled at the MRF if it is bagged in a clear plastic bag; otherwise, the paper can create excessive litter.
The City of Tucson is now collecting non-recyclable plastic to be repurposed into building materials and diverted from our landfills, streets, and waterways.
When in doubt, throw it out. If you are unsure of whether or not something is recyclable, it is better to leave it out of the recycling bin than to risk contaminating an entire load. Contaminated loads will be automatically turned away from the MRF and redirected to the landfill.
To learn more about recycling on campus, check out FM's Recycling and Waste Management page.
Starting February 1, 2021, glass will no longer be accepted in blue bins at residential homes or commercial properties around the city. However, the University of Arizona will continue to accept glass in single- and multi-stream recycling receptacles on campus.
Residential glass can still be dropped off at 22 sites around the city, but starting on February 1, 2021, do not place it in your blue bin at home. More information can be found at the Arizona Daily Star.
If you are interested in dropping off any compostable material at the University of Arizona Community Garden, please email compostcats@arizona.edu, or consider joining the Compost Cats Bucket Program by filing out this interest form.
We serve as a resource for all campus stakeholders, including students, faculty, staff, and administrators. We are leading the efforts to create and implement the University's Sustainability & Climate Action Plan and have been centrally involved in the University’s Strategic Plan and Campus Master Plan efforts.
We recognize that environmental and sustainability efforts at the University have historically been fairly siloed, and our intention is to be a bridge and central clearinghouse for these efforts so that University and community stakeholders can more easily navigate resources.