BYU manages a highly-successful recycling program. In fact, we recycle just about everything, including materials from building demolition, broken pallets, cardboard, food waste (used in compost), used grease and oil, plastic, carpet, sawdust, paper products, batteries, toner cartridges, newspapers, refrigerants, electronic boards, steel, chemical waste and so on.

At our annual university conference, for example, thousands of employees enjoyed breakfast, and then were invited to join in the largest zero-waste event ever on campus. In this initiative, only biodegradable utensils, plates and napkins were used at the breakfast, all of which is destined to become mulch for tree, shrub and sod areas on campus. Employees were simply directed to place the utensils, along with their leftover food, in marked receptacles. The biodegradable utensils and food waste are ground up with pulping machines and added to compost piles. The compost piles eventually decompose with help from added water, oxygen and nitrogen, and are eventually used as mulch. The mulch helps with weed control, reduces erosion and provides air space and water-holding capabilities for green areas across BYU's 320 acres of maintained landscape.

This fall BYU also witnessed the rollout of a campus-wide plastics recycling system. The easy-to-spot bins joined the recycling receptacles for newspapers, office paper and aluminum cans that have been on campus for more than 15 years. Though these recycling initiatives do have required up-front investment, the efforts save BYU thousands of dollars every year.