30% of Municipal Solid Waste is compostable food and yard waste.
June 30, 2026
Throughout Weill Cornell Medicine’s buildings, you will find bins designated for the collection of confidential documents. Proper disposal of confidential documents is of paramount importance, especially in clinical settings.
What is defined as a confidential document? A confidential document is any document that contains patient-protected health information (PHI) or private information (including personal details, intellectual property, or anything confidential).
Such documents need to be shredded to safeguard the information. There are three options to do so.
- You can do the shredding yourself if your office has a shredder on-site. Then, bag the shredded paper and leave it for the housekeeper to collect as recycling. Note: Do not mix loose pieces of shredded paper with the rest of the recycling to avoid losing them during transportation and making a mess.
- Place the documents in a locked, confidential document bin, such as the ones shown in the images below. These bins will be emptied into a shredding truck that will shred the material before leaving WCM. The truck will then drive to a material recovery facility where the shredded paper will be recycled.
- If you do not have a shredder or a locked confidential document bin on-site, you can request one for a special clean-up from Housekeeping and Custodial Services.
Please remember that locked confidential document bins are for confidential documents only. Material placed in these locked bins undergoes a special shredding procedure through an external hauler, which is more expensive than regular recycling. Extra costs are also incurred if objects such as clips, staples, and binding spirals cause the shredder to jam and require maintenance.
What is not accepted in the confidential document receptacle:
Any object that is not paper: clips, staples, and binding spirals must be removed.
Any paper that does not require shredding:
Non-confidential documents or papers, journals and magazines, and cardboard boxes. These belong in the regular recycling bin.
Tissues and napkins. These belong in the trash.
You can download a sign that specifies these restrictions here.