Emory’s New Waste Management Policy

In its 2025 Sustainability Vision, Emory made an institutional commitment to zero waste—defined nationally as 95% diversion of municipal landfill waste.  Landfills have significant negative impacts locally and globally—contributing to climate change and impacting our poorest communities.  To implement its vision, Emory has adopted a new Waste Management Policy that will improve the consistency of our waste systems and result in Emory modeling a post-landfill future. 

We ask that you watch and share with others this 3-minute video about changes taking place in January 2018: https://youtu.be/OLbrs3hb__w.   As the video explains, Campus Services will provide standardized bins in interior spaces, change exterior bins to composting and recycling, and establish collection stations for glass and other hard to recycle materials.  Servicing of desk-side waste bins by custodians will be phased out beginning in January 2018, and employees are asked to start self-sorting their waste at the collection bins beginning in early 2018.  Custodians will focus on cleaning in the buildings, and teams of waste specialists will be dedicated to compost and recycling removal from the stations.

In preparation for the implementation of the waste policy in January of 2018, members of the Office of Sustainability and Campus Services have been working with the various building facility contacts and sustainability representatives to identify existing and new locations for the recycling bins.  Installation of the new bins and signage throughout Emory University and Oxford College will take the entire month of December. It is important to note that, during this transitional period, we will continue desk-side pickup as the new waste specialists are hired and trained.

If you wish to see the policy, photos of the waste bins and responses to frequently asked questions, please see the Emory Zero Landfill Waste web page.  We are very excited to “hit the ground running” in January 2018 and ask for everyone’s understanding and patience during this transition to a post-landfill future at Emory.  If you have questions or concerns, please contact Campus Services Customer Service at 404.727.7463 or cscsc@emory.edu.