Paper of any color, size, or type — newspapers, magazines, file folders, copy paper, junk mail, cardboard, pizza boxes (so long as the leftovers are eaten first), you name it! — can be recycled on campus. Remember: “If you can rip it, you can recycle it.” However, used paper towels, napkins, and tissues cannot be recycled.

In every residence hall and all around campus (including the dining halls and libraries), you can find bins (usually maroon or blue) for “Mixed Office Paper” into which recyclable paper may be placed. Help save space in the bins for your friends and neighbors by breaking apart your cardboard boxes before recycling them.

Although bath tissues and paper hand towels cannot be recycled, Boston College recently converted to using new EcoLogo-certified bathroom tissue and hand towels from Kruger Products. Four types of bath tissue and paper towels are currently in use in restrooms across campus, and the GreenQuality promise assures that the products are manufactured under the highest possible sustainability standard. The products in use contain 100% recycled fiber (RF) and 88% post-consumer (PC) content.

Furthermore, all of the shipping cartons are 100% RF, and all products and packaging contain no lead or other heavy metals. The products in use meet or exceed the EPA's Leadership in Environmental Efficiency and Design (LEED) program, created by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Glass & Plastic

Just about every plastic, metal, or glass container can be recycled on campus. Everything except Styrofoam and plastic bags can be recycled.

Water bottles, soda cans, tuna cans, or iced tea bottles can be tossed into the “Commingled Only” containers (usually green) found throughout campus and in the residence halls, or into the black trash cans labeled “Bottles & Cans” found in the Dust Bowl and other outdoor areas.

BC recycling containers have made their way to the dorms! All rooms on campus have personal recycling containers, and suites have an additional bin to encourage even more recycling on campus. This makes it easier for students to recycle in their rooms, then bring the material to the proper receptacles located in each residential building.

When it's time to replace the ink in your printer, bring the used cartridge down to your building’s laundry room and place it in a white box on the wall labeled “Ink Cartridge Recycling.” (To dispose of toner cartridges from laser printers, fill out the form on this page.)

While you’re at it, bring along those dead batteries from your camera and toss them into the white “Battery Box” next to the “Ink Cartridge Recycling” box. When batteries are not disposed of properly, they end up in landfills or are incinerated. As they decay in landfills, the toxic metals within them, such as mercury, cadmium and nickel, can leach into the ground and contaminate local drinking water and fish. Incinerating batteries can vaporize metals such as mercury, releasing them into the air. Other metals, such as cadmium and lead, can concentrate in the ash produced.

For more information on recycling batteries on campus, click here.

Computers & Electronics

Not sure what to do with that old busted printer? Bring it to Information Technology Services (ITS) and have them recycle it for you. For more information, see the “Out with the Old” section of our Information Technology page, or visit Environmental Health & Safety's Special Recycling page.

Couldn’t finish that plate of pasta or chicken parm last night at dinner? BC Dining Services will compost those leftovers to help reduce your impact on the environment. See our Dining Services page for further information.

Interested in composting in your dormitory? Composting buckets and programs are available for select residential halls through Real Food BC.

BC Clean is one of the many ways Boston College helps the environment — and the local community. Students living on Lower Campus can donate items that are still good but that they cannot or do not want to bring home for the summer; volunteers sort them and donate them to more than 128 different agencies. Cleansweep allows members of BC to connect with and support the Greater Boston community in a thoughtful, respectful, meaningful, and helpful manner.

Read the BCM article "RECYCLED: The Things They Leave Behind," or the Chronicle’s take in "Around Campus: Making a Cleansweep of It."

Construction Projects

Boston College recycles as much as possible when beginning work on new projects or when renovating older buildings. Material used or being replaced in construction projects is specified to be energy saving, especially for certain types of mechanical equipment. Recycling goals for future large-scale projects are projected to be around 85%.

Boston College has recently introduced a new carpet recycling program, which has enjoyed substantial success during renovation projects that require carpet replacement. Not only was the amount of waste carpet ending up in landfill reduced, BC was also able to gain value-added services from Allied Waste, the waste management company. It turns out that effective segregation and recycling of waste materials benefits waste management providers as well. Allied Waste provided the carpet containers, as well as the trash and recycle totes in the Mods, free of charge.