The Waste Reduction and Recycling Department reminds campus community to reduce, reuse and recycle this holiday season

The Waste Reduction and Recycling Department would like to remind the campus community to reduce, reuse and recycle this holiday season.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Americans throw away more trash between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day than at any other time of the year. The extra waste amounts to an additional one million tons of garbage per week.

There are several opportunities to incorporate waste reduction, reuse and recycling into your seasonal activities. These strategies conserve natural resources, save energy and boost the economy.

We offer the following tips to encourage students, staff and faculty to reduce, reuse and recycle during the holidays:

Reduce

• Give gifts that require little or no packaging
• Purchase recycled content greeting cards and wrapping paper
• Go paperless – send electronic greeting cards
• Take along reusable bags when shopping

Reuse

• Purchase decorations from a thrift store
• Use last year’s greeting cards for gift tags or crafts
• Donate unwanted items to local charities
• Collect and reuse gift bags, ribbons and bows

Recycle

• Greeting cards, catalogs, gift boxes, wrapping paper (no metallic, glittery, velvety wrapping papers)
• Cardboard boxes
• Plastic bottles
• Aluminum cans

The three R’s, reduce, reuse and recycle, are not just for the holiday season. Practicing these simple suggestions will reduce the amount of waste you produce. We encourage you to continue these green habits all year.