Waste Reduction

Single-sort Recycling is a system the University of New England adopted that allows us to recycle more than ever. You can put paper, glass, metal, and plastics in one bin. View the complete listing of what can go into the green, single-sort recycling bins

The university is investing the revenue generated by the bottles and cans into the recycling program. Those 5 cents may not seem like a lot, but they add up to make sure we can keep our waste disposal as environmentally friendly as possible.

Single-sort recycling saves time. The majority of the waste generated on the campus is recyclable, which helps reduce UNE's waste and decreases our carbon footprint. For information on your personal carbon footprint, visit The Nature Conservancy's Carbon Footprint Calculator.

Light bulbs, hypodermic needles, sharp objects, bubble wrap, food, styrofoam packaging and peanuts, food bags, diapers, potato chip bags, and other non-recyclable waste cannot be put in single-sort recycling. View the full list of what can go in the green recycling bins

No. Only shredded paper should be bagged. The sorting equipment at Ecomaine will get clogged with bags of recyclables. Full plastic bags are considered trash and will be put into a trash dumpster. Shredded paper in clear plastic bags is recognized when the recyclable material is dumped on the floor of the recycling center and pulled out with hooks and brought directly to the paper recycling station.

Corrugated cardboard can be recycled in any dumpster marked "Cardboard Only." On the Portland Campus, there are cardboard dumpsters located behind Alexander Hall and behind Blewett Hall. On the Biddeford Campus there are cardboard dumpsters located near Champlain Hall, behind the Campus Center, past Sokokis Hall near the compactor, in the lower Morgane Hall parking lot, behind Facilities Management by the mailroom, behind Decary Hall, and behind Stella Maris Hall.

Because fluorescent light bulbs contain mercury, all fluorescent bulbs on campus must be recycled. Never dispose of fluorescent bulbs in the trash or in a dumpster.

Normally, fluorescent bulbs on campus are changed by Facilities Management (FM). FM has fluorescent bulb accumulation points on each campus. When they change your bulb, they save the bulbs for recycling.

To have fluorescent bulbs picked up for recycling, or to report abandoned fluorescent bulbs, call Facilities Management at x2368.

If you are a faculty or staff member, you can place a work order request for housekeeping to bring you a deskside recycling bin. Even though the color is blue, these desk-side recycling bins should be emptied into the nearest green recycling toter.

Since we encourage everyone to participate in the program, and because we often search for something thrown in our recycling bins inadvertently, we prefer for you to empty your own office recycling bin and not ask our housekeeping staff to do it. Just bring it to the nearest large green toter on wheels; there's one on every floor of every building. Thank you for participating.

UNE's housekeeping staff consolidates the tall, thin bins from area recycling stations into the larger toters on wheels daily. Our recycling staff transports these toters to the compactor, where they are emptied. There is a toter recycling route established. High-traffic areas are emptied every workday. Residence halls are emptied twice weekly and some of the office and academic areas are emptied weekly. However, if you notice that a recycling bin is full (or will be full very soon) please let us know by calling ext. 2368.

Ask your RA to place a work order. Recycling staff will then empty the bin as soon as possible.

Placing a work order is the fastest way to have a bin emptied, and the best way for us to track the frequency needs of a particular area.

This happens when people contaminate recyclables with trash. Ecomaine will refuse to accept loads of contaminated recyclables. Please help us keep trash out of the recycling bins.

Please keep shredded documents in a plastic bag. The plastic bag ensures that the thin scraps of paper are processed correctly. If your shredded paper is not in a plastic bag, it cannot be recycled and may contaminate the bin of recyclable material. Place the plastic bag with shredded paper into a green single-sort recycling bin. Leaving it loose makes a mess on campus during transport and at the recycling facility.

Plastics numbered 1-7 are recyclable in the green single-sort bins. On the bottom of most plastic containers, there is a triangular symbol (that looks much like the recycling symbol). The number within that triangle is the number of plastic from which your container was made.

Unfortunately, if there is no number, there is no way to identify the type of plastic, and it cannot be recycled using our system.

Styrofoam (even though it is labeled as number 6 plastic) is not recyclable in the state of Maine.

Recyclable plastics are further identified if they are rigid (not flimsy, like plastic wrap) and larger than a Post-It note. Plastic lids, straws, and utensils are small enough to fall through the sorting machinery and will end up on the floor of the recycling facility, so just put it in the trash bin for disposal. 

To find out if a bottle or can is returnable or not, search the container for "ME." It is typically located with a list of other states near the bar code on bottle labels and imprinted on the top of cans. Returnable, or redeemable, bottles and cans should go in the blue "Returnable Bottles and Cans Only" bin.

UNE uses the funds from the returnable bottles and cans to reinvest in the recycling program. Any bottles and cans in the blue recycling bins on campus are considered university property. Reinvesting the funds in this way makes the recycling program more financially sustainable, as well as environmentally sustainable.

While these items can be placed in the single-sort bins, they are too small for Ecomaine’s equipment to salvage; they'll literally fall through the cracks. They will end up as trash at the recycling facility and should be separated and placed in the trash whenever possible. It is not considered a contaminant, however.

Yes. Pizza boxes can be placed in the green single-sort bins. They can even have some oil and a little bit of cheese stuck to them. However, please remove all crusts, pizza pieces, and large clumps of toppings before recycling.

Unfortunately, wax is not recyclable. However, in modern products the “wax” coating is often actually a thin layer of plastic. To tell if your product is waxed, lightly scratch it with your fingernail. If the coating comes off under your nail, it is waxed and cannot be recycled. If it is plastic coated, it can go in the recycling because the recycling process will separate the layers of paper and plastic.

Waste Management comes to the Portland Campus on Wednesday mornings and empties the 65-gallon toters into a truck that is used for recycling only. The material is taken to Ecomaine in Portland. On the Biddeford Campus, our recycling staff brings the green toters to the compactors located beyond Sokokis Hall or in the Ripich Commons. When the compactors are full, Waste Management is notified and they bring the material to Ecomaine in Portland.

UNE started "SWOOP Days" in 2007 which was a collection drive during move-out week. The program evolved into a partnership with Goodwill for a donation collection. Large blue bins on wheels are placed in six residence halls (Champlain Hall lounge, East Hall commuter lounge, Avila Hall mailroom, Featherman Hall lobby, Assisi Hall lounge, and Sokokis Hall lounge) where all resident students can access them. Students can place gently used clothes, furniture, small appliances, decorations, and household accessories in the bins and Goodwill will sell them to benefit their many community projects. Unopened non-perishable food can also be collected in the blue bins, and Goodwill will pass these on to the Good Shepherd Food Bank.