Monmouth University continually explores ways to reduce waste and increase recycling. We are members and/or partners of various green organizations or agencies, some of which are specific to recycling.
The University has been a member of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s WasteWise Business Network since March 2009. The program is run through the EPA and is geared toward eliminating costly municipal solid waste and select industrial wastes to benefit the environment. The WasteWise initiative combined with the University’s prior recycling habits yielded tremendous results.
In 2011, the University introduced single stream recycling, a form of recycling that allows for comingled receptacles. It has helped increase our recycling rates by making it easier to recycle. Since then, the University has seen a dramatic increase in our recycling and waste diversion rates.
In 2014, the University began installing water bottle filling stations in high traffic areas to reduce the volume of trash and recyclables, and to encourage the reuse of durable containers to fill with filtered water. Between 2014 and 2021, we diverted more than 1.2M disposable plastic bottles from landfill. We continue to expand the use of the bottle filling stations.
The University is also a member of the Association of New Jersey Recyclers (ANJR). We even received a New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Recycling Award in 2019, in partnership with the ANJR.
Other waste and recycling practices:
- Green Seal or EcoLogo products used for housekeeping
- 100% recycled content for all rest room paper products
- 70% post-consumer recycled content for all trash liners
- High speed hand dryers for rest room applications
- Recycling/composting of all campus landscape waste
- Recycled content in campus-wide purchasing of office papers