Waste Diversion | Sustainability

At UMD, we're committed to reducing, reusing, recycling, and composting to cut the amount of waste our campus sends to the landfill.

*Includes Academic buildings, Residence Halls & Apartments, Kirby, Dining Center, Chester Park, and NRRI.

Food (leftovers, scraps, peels), napkins and paper towels, compostable to-go items from UMD Dining

Plastic jugs and tubs, metal cans, glass bottles and jars, paper, magazines, newspaper, cardboard

Greasy pizza boxes, chip bags and wrappers, styrofoam, hot coffee cups from off-campus

To request a recycling bin for your area, please email [email protected] or call 218-726-8262.

Some things can't go in your regular recycling bin -- check this list to find out what to do with special items.

In order to measure our progress towards proper sorting and waste diversion, waste audits and assessments are periodically performed.

For information on composting opportunities in the Duluth area, visit the WLSSD website to learn about their Food Waste Recycling program and Drop Off locations.

Duluth Compost offers options for residential pickup.

The Minnesota Technical Assistance Program (MnTAP) is a grant funded, confidential, environmental outreach and assistance program for businesses and organizations throughout Minnesota. MnTAP works to improve public health and the environment by preventing pollution at the source, optimizing use of resources, and reducing energy use and costs. Our main focus areas are energy, water, waste, and chemicals.
The Minnesota Materials Exchange is a reuse platform operated out of the Twin Cities campus. It has been around since 1990, and operates to serve as a place for Minnesota businesses, industry, non-profits, and institutions to post items they no longer want, need, or use.
Please contact the site administrator, Jon Schroeder, at [email protected] or 612-624-6456 with any questions