Recycling
What Can You Do to Help?
For 2006 and 2007, it cost roughly $45 per ton less to recycle than it did to dispose of
materials in a landfill. For those two years, this yielded a total of about $415,000 in
avoided cost. UVA Recycling is always working to make it easier for you to recycle.
There are many ways you can help to make it easier for us.
Materials being recycled
In many areas( mostly academic and office environments) where waste paper is generated, there
are two boxes: the one with the green label is for white paper<, and one with the black label
is for mixed paper. Every moment you take to sort the paper saves our crews time when they process it.
Sorting is important to the University as we are receiving twice as much revenue for white
paper as for the office mixed paper. Also, the white paper cannot be contaminated with more
than 2% of other paper. Revenue received for white paper helps us save money with recycling!
When in doubt though, put it in the Mixed Paper box.
Another way we make recycling easier for you is by using collection containers that will take
all kinds of containers used for beverages, food, and more (aluminum, steel, glass, and all
numbers of plastic – no Styrofoam©). They were previously labeled “Bottles and Cans” have now
been re-labeled “Plastic, Metal, Glass” to emphasize the variety of materials that can be
accepted. We sort, process and bale these containers here at UVa. Bags of commingled containers
often sit for a week or more before we are able to sort them, and you can imagine what happens
with them, especially in the heat. We ask that you make sure that the container is completely
empty and, if possible, rinsed. It would also greatly help us if you could remove the caps and
lids to all containers.
All cardboard that is put out to be recycled should be emptied and flattened. Many times paper
containers or cardboard containers fill up too quickly because boxes are not flattened, so this
is rather important. Also, it is important to set aside cardboard (not put it in any paper container)
when there is no cardboard collection at a site – it will still be picked up when left next to the
regular recycling containers and helps us since it is sorted from the paper.
Purchasing Choices
When possible, please choose aluminum beverage and food containers over plastic. Plastic can be
recycled, but is always downgraded into another product so it has a limited lifespan of being
recycled just a few times. Aluminum, on the other hand, can be recycled indefinitely – it can be
made into can after can for years. Aluminum is therefore much more sustainable! Also, aluminum
helps us by earning significant revenue, as a result of its high value in the marketplace.
Office Clean-outs
If you are purging old records or a large amount of other paper items, please give us as much
notice as possible by emailing and/or calling our supervisors. We will make arrangements as best
we can to fit your needs and our schedule.
If you have any questions call us at (434) 982-5050 or
.
Together we can work towards a more sustainable future. Thanks!
