Bri Nitsberg

One of many recycling containers on WashU’s campus. (Bri Nitsberg | Student Life)

WashU has hundreds or even thousands of recycling bins on its campus that are used by students, faculty, and staff each day. But where does it all go? Most students don’t know.

When asked if WashU’s waste management company was common knowledge, one executive for the Student Sustainability Board (SSB) replied, “not to students.”

Many other students have expressed similar concerns including that they are worried that their recycling ultimately ends up in the landfill. First-year Alexander Silverman-Dultz said that he wanted more assurance that recycling actually ends up being recycled.

“If I knew for a fact that my recycling was actually going to be recycled, I would be way more careful,” Silverman-Dultz said.

Student Life looked into the process of recycling at WashU by talking to the Office of Sustainability. Cassandra Hage, Assistant Director of the Office of Sustainability, explained the details behind the process.

The first step of recycling involves students. For example, when a student chooses to recycle a plastic cup, they are participating in the first level of sorting.

After that, what happens to the plastic cup depends on which recycling bin it was put into. If it was in a University dining hall, then Sodexo, WashU’s dining provider, is responsible for moving it to the dumpster. WashU’s housekeeping contractor, HES, is responsible for ensuring other waste and recycling end up in dumpsters outside of Residential Life-managed areas.

After that, the plastic cup is picked up by Waste Connections, WashU’s waste hauler for all recycling and landfill waste.

“While frequency of collections varies across campus, services are provided to WashU [by Waste Connections] six days a week,” Hage wrote.

According to Hage, another round of sorting takes place once Waste Connections collects the recyclables.

“Haulers visually assess each load for contamination; if contamination is minimal, the materials may be re-sorted to remove contaminants and prevent the load from being rejected,” she wrote.

It is important that the contamination is minimal because a load of recycling making it to the facility does not guarantee that it will be recycled.

“So any recycling center is going to have a threshold on contamination. If they cross a certain threshold of the wrong items, non-recyclable items ending up in that mix, then they’ll just have to dispose of the whole thing,” John Parks, lecturer in Biology and Environmental Studies, said.

Where the recycling ends up after Waste Connections receives it is out of WashU’s direct control. However, Hage said that Waste Connections currently contracts Federal Recycling & Waste Solutions in St. Louis to process WashU’s recyclables.

“Waste Connections independently contracts with recovery facilities who process materials… Waste Connections is obligated to haul recyclables to a suitable recycling facility,” Hage wrote.

Parks commented that the current messaging on various recycling bins across campus — in various classrooms, lecture halls, dorms, and other buildings — which states “If in doubt, recycle” may actually lead to higher contamination rates.

According to Hage, the Office of Sustainability has placed updated signage on new containers, but some of the “If in doubt, recycle” messages can still be found on older bins around campus.

“Because there are hundreds, if not thousands, of recycling and landfill containers across campus…we don’t want to re-sign everything and then have to come back and roll out a new design with new messaging because it’s very expensive,” Hage said.

 In 2022, the SSB measured contamination levels in recycling bags from many of WashU’s dining halls, finding contamination levels of up to 75% in some cases.

Hage acknowledged that the COVID-19 pandemic massively disrupted WashU recycling efforts, which might partially explain the results found by SSB.

“The supply chain was disrupted. So we have lots of different types of materials that didn’t really sync well with our signage and our outreach…we also had to default to disposables, and we also had a different food vendor at that time,” Hage said. “We’ve been kind of rebuilding the systems ever since.”

The Office of Sustainability reported that no bags of recycling were rejected by the recycling facility in 2019 and 2020.

First-year Andrew Press was shocked by the amount of contamination he currently sees in the Bear’s Den dining hall.

“I think because there’s so much non-recyclable stuff in there, it feels like it can’t be being recycled properly,” Press said. “I think sometimes people don’t understand [what to recycle].”

The Office of Sustainability also mentioned how there are a variety of challenges with implementing sustainability programs at WashU, both reusable and recycling-based.

“For example, we have been trying diligently to offer a reusable to-go box program for nearly a decade, yet many are hesitant or unwilling to utilize it due to perceived inconvenience,” Hage wrote. “We need both the system and the community participation to successfully implement alternatives to the status quo.”

In regard to the status quo, Silverman-Dultz mentioned that recycling should become the go-to for students.

“We need to try and shift our perception of recycling, not as an extra task but as a default,” Silverman-Dultz said.

Hage explained how the Office of Sustainability educates the WashU community about recycling procedures and where students can find resources.

“We offer resources and detailed guidance on what materials go where on our website, which has a material guide, FAQs, and a brief recorded tutorial,” Hage wrote. “We are also available to visit offices, student groups, etc. to offer presentations, and we provide training to all new WashU employees through new employee orientation.”

SSB executives emphasized that students may not know the specifics about recycling at WashU because they come from a variety of locations across the country that each have different rules about recycling.

“I don’t want it to come across as we’re being hard on the students, because if you don’t know how it works, how do you learn? So that’s why we exist,” an SSB executive said.