Recyling at SUU
Southern Utah University’s Outdoor Pathways Department, in collaboration with the Facilities Management Department, has over 90 recycling bins on campus where departments, classes, and clubs can distribute their recyclable materials and reduce the amount of waste the University adds to landfills. SUU’s recycling bins are emptied following a weekly route by student employees.This is our recycling sign let us know if your bin needs one in the pick-up request form. FY23 we collected and recycled 18.6 tons and FY24 we collected 23.7 of recyclable materials.
Below is a list of materials that can or cannot be placed in SUU's mixed recycling bins. When in doubt, please throw it away in a garbage bin. One inappropriate item can contaminate an entire truckload of recyclable materials.
- All recyclables must be clean and dry.
- Flattened Cardboard and Paperboard
- Magazines/Catalogs, Junk Mail and Paper
- Newspapers
- Aluminum, Steel, or Tin Beverage/Food Cans
- Cleaned & Rinsed Plastic Beverage, Food, and Soap Containers (Plastics #1, #2, #5)
- food or organic material
- Shredded Paper (as of July 2023) and any paper smaller than a credit card
- hard cover books
- Polystyrene, Waxed & Carbon Paper
- receipts (lined with plastic)
- toilet or tissue paper
- Plastics #3, #4, #6, or #7
- Plastic Bags and wrap
- Thin Film Plastics
- Glass
- Greasy Boxes or Paper (Pizza Boxes, Used Paper Plates, etc.)
- Aluminum Foil
- Batteries
- Bubble Wrap
- Fluids or Aerosols
- Hazardous Chemical Containers (Motor Oil, Pesticides, etc.)
- Paint Cans
- Styrofoam and Packaging Peanuts
- Tetra Packs (Juice Box, Almond Milk, etc.)
Recyclable materials are driven to Republic Services in Las Vegas for sorting and processing in their recycling plant. Also some cardboard is utilized in the SUU Community Garden as compost along with hundreds of pounds of food scraps in collaboration with SUU’s Dining Services.
To learn even more about where your recycling goes, check out this cool YouTube Video Tour of Republic Service's Las Vegas Recycling Plant.
Everyone can live a more sustainable lifestyle by doing all of the following:
- Reduce and Refuse: Avoid products that are not sustainable or use less of them.
- Reuse: Put an item into action or service again.
- Repair: Fix something instead of replacing it.
- Recycle and Repurpose: Transform used, useless or unwanted materials into something new.
Book Reuse
If a book is recycled it gets taken apart and used for material. Instead please consider one of the FranklinMedia's book bins to give every book a second life. There is one located by the bookstore, the wellness center, and inside the library.
Residential Recycling
SUU and the surrounding off-campus community does not currently provide recycling services to residential areas, but for an annual or monthly fee, the private recycling company ReCyclops can pick up materials either weekly or bi-weekly right from your home.
And for local metal recycling there is Robinson Recycling.