Commingled Recycling
How to Dispose.
UCI provides both personal and public recycling bins across campus (They are available in all classrooms and pedestrian pathways, and offices). Commingled recycling includes all recyclable items such as paper, glass, plastic, and metals.
Larger recycling toters are located at the loading dock of on-campus buldings and housing faciliites.
Many living complexes outside of campus also provide large recyling toters for residents, and many homes have seperate recyling bins that are picked up by waste collection vehicles.
Who you can contact.
At UCI: After commingled recycling is collected it is sent to Waste Management where it is processed through a Manterial Recovery Facility and repurposed.
Waste Mangement
website: https://www.wm.com/index.jsp
customer service: cssandiego@wm.com
If you have further questions, concerns, or requests about commingled recycling on campus, feel free to contact our Facilities Management Sustainability team.
Off-Campus: Living residencies should provide curbside pick-up for commingled recyling, or larger waste bins where recylables can be disposed and eventually collected by waste vehicles. Also feel free to drop off your recyling at a local recyling center that accepts commingled recycling.
What happens next.
Material Recovery Facilities seperate and sort recyclables so that they can be repurposed to become new products. Paper is recycled to become new paper products, glass can become numerous products such as flooring, tile, or new glass containers. Plastic is melted to form new molds to make products such as containers, toys, rulers, fiberfill for sleeping bags, and even new recycling bins. Similarly, metal is also melted down to become new products in a process that can continue over and over again since many recyclable material, such as metal, can be recycled without losing any properties or quality.
This is why proper disposal is so important because it allows for certain materials, that would otherwise be wasted, to become reusable resources.