Recycling remains an easily accessible way for the campus community to support the University’s mission to care for our common home. This year, additional improvements are underway to continue increasing recycling capture and streamline the program’s identity.
Recycling Expansion
With the exception of some specialty locations, toters have been established as the standard for collecting single-stream recyclables and landfill waste in centralized locations. In some spaces within buildings like Duncan Student Center and DeBartolo Hall, waste cabinets have been established to encapsulate toters. Standardized recycling with paired landfill bins continues to expand across campus. This fall, the following locations will be updating outdated infrastructure and expanding paired recycling and landfill locations:
- Carole Sandner Hall
- Select office suites in Duncan Student Center:
- Career Center
- Residence Life
- Rec Sports
- Galvin/Freimann Hall
- Hayes-Healy Hall
- Hurley Hall
- McCourtney-West
- Nieuwland Science
- Remick Family Hall
- Stinson-Remick Hall of Engineering
Alongside expanding recycling to new locations, new, updated labels will be white and blue, a traditional standard for recycling, and landfill labels will be black and white. Across hockey and basketball athletic spaces, waste receptacles are also receiving new labels to make proper disposal quick and intuitive for fans and event attendees.
How the campus community can participate
Thanks to the collective action of the campus community, in the past year, Notre Dame has increased its recycling tonnage by 34 percent! While the University has progressed in its recycling efforts, there is still work to be done. Notre Dame Sustainability is currently partnering with departments across campus, like Building Services, Facilities Design & Operations, Hospitality, and Stadium Operations, for climate action planning strategies to make further reductions in the amount of waste sent to the landfill. While this collaborative work is happening, you too can support the recycling program on campus to influence an even greater impact:
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Familiarize yourself with how to properly sort your waste by referring to the A-Z Recycling Directory. The general rule of thumb is: yes to recycling aluminum, glass, paper, and rigid plastics.
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Familiarize yourself with recycling practices in your building. Where applicable, utilize your personal desk-side bin to collect recyclable materials and identify the centrally-located recycling toter near your office, classroom, lab, or dorm. Note that across campus, some toters are nestled within cabinets, like in the first floor of the Duncan Student Center. See example photo below.
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If you’re planning an event, request recycling bins by submitting an AiM work request using the “Recycling” tile to request temporary event bins. Note: To access AiM, you must be connected to Eduroam or the campus VPN.
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Cardboard, while it is accepted by our recycling servicer in the toters, takes up considerable space that disallows other high-value materials from being collected. Please break down cardboard boxes and place them in the separate cardboard carts available throughout campus. If you have a significant amount of cardboard that needs to be picked up, submit an AiM work request using the “Recycling” tile.
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If you do not have a toter in your building or office, or you would like to request a desk-side bin, submit an AiM work request to ask that recycling be added to your location. Note: Submitting a request does not guarantee receipt of a toter. Requests will be reviewed with the designated building contact for that location.
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For tailgating on football game days this fall, utilize the recycling and landfill barrels throughout the lots. The student Green Team will again be distributing plastic bags at key locations, including new blue bags for recycling and black bags for landfill.
Stay up-to-date with the newest recycling information and other news from Notre Dame Sustainability by subscribing to The Green Ambassador.
Originally published by at green.nd.edu on August 14, 2026.