Waste
Waste at Messiah
Minimize waste across all areas of campus through resource recovery and responsible planning
Waste is one of the oldest ways Messiah has engaged in sustainability practices dating back to the early 1980's. Recycling efforts lead by two students paved the way to establishing Earthkeepers as well as a campus-wide recycling program. Apart from just recycling, the college has considered waste in it's many forms. From food to energy, the college has asked itself how it can improve in those areas and so, not only do we recycle rubbish but also left over food, food scraps, paper and the things that we use but also our energy in the form of solar thermal and cooling plants.
Programs & Partnerships
Description
Every year when students move-out, giant landfill bound containers show up on campus to collect all the waste we students generate during move out. To combat this, we are partnering with Community Aid to reduce the amount of reusable waste that ends up in those landfills. All donated goods will be sold in Community Aid thrift stores. The revenue generated from that goes to local community development in the form of grants. We will be collecting many things including clothing, purses, belts, shoes, lamps, books, bedside stands, bookshelves, cardboard, chairs, small kitchen appliances, rugs, paper, newspaper, furniture, kitchen supplies, unopened food and hygiene products, etc. If you have a question about what might be accepted send us an email at sustainability@messiah.edu.
Get Involved
Sign Up To Volunteer or See a List of Accepted Items
Partners
- Community Aid
- New Hope Ministries
- Residence Life
- Campus Grounds
The Waste Ambassador program is for students who want to learn more about waste at Messiah and help engage the rest of the campus with waste reduction efforts. They learn what we do with waste on campus, our composting, and details about recycling. After your training in becoming a Waste Ambassador, you will assist with bi-weekly waste sorting promotional days in the Union and Falcon during lunch and dinner as a form of engaging and encouraging the rest of campus to follow through with correctly sorting their waste. If you have any questions or want to become a Waste Ambassador contact the Office of Sustainability.
Messiah University is a proud participant in Campus Race to Zero Waste (formerly known as Recyclemania)
The new name better reflects and reinforces the purpose of the program - to help colleges and universities find pathways toward zero waste (90+% diverted from trash) on campus. A more comprehensive approach, zero waste accounts for everything from increasing recycling and food organics (composting) as a ratio of waste to reducing consumption, food waste, and single-use plastics.
Since 2001, we have engaged more than 1,000 colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada and look forward to continuing to provide competition tools and resources to help campuses reach their waste reduction goals."
(Take from the CR2ZW website: https://recyclemania.org/home-4/about-recyclemania)
Be a part of the challenge by contacting our office for ways to participate! Look for information on our social media about ways you can reduce your waste!