Zero-Waste Events

A Zero-Waste Event is an event in which all the waste produced must be recycled or composted after the event. This also includes eliminating possible waste materials from entering the event at all. To have a Zero-Waste Event you can contact the Recycling center.

Download a Zero-Waste Event guide  

Conservation Madness

The University's Office of Housing & Residential Life teamed-up with the U's Facilities Management department to create this recycling and energy reduction competition.  Each residence hall had the opportunity to win a national championship tailgate party by reducing its electricity and waste by the largest precentage from February 7-20, 2011.

The Facilities Management staff and Residence Hall Sustainability Advocates held kick-off events in residence halls the week of January 31-February 4, sorting through 10% of each residence hall's daily garbage to demonstrate how many recyclable items are thrown away. 

The winner for this competition was Territorial Hall, which accomplished to reduce energy and recycle more than other halls on average.  However, Sanford Hall was the one with the highest amount of recycled material per capita and least waste generation; Comstock Hall was the highest in energy reduction.  Territorial Hall residents get a Tailgate Party in their T.V. lounge on April 4th, for their team efforts in conservation and recycling. 

Recyclemania

The University of Minnesota participates in the national RecycleMania competition during spring semester each year. This friendly competition ranks reported recycling and trash data from more than 500 universities over a 10-week period. The U of M placed first last year among Big Ten teams in the Grand Champion division. Visit the Recyclemainia website (http://www.recyclemania.org/) for more information.

Trash Dump

On November 12, 2009, the U of M Recycling Program sponsored the second annual TRASH DUMP! This included a lot of volunteers and sponsors, and of course, 6.5 TONS of trash!  This year, because of the spectacular response, 500 pounds of garbage were sorted and 300 pounds of recyclable and compostable material were recovered.