Diesel trucks carry Manhattan's garbage 7.8 million miles every year. That's the equivalent of driving more than 312 times around the Earth!
Housekeeping collects the waste every evening (twice per day in 24/7 areas). For practicality, housekeepers use the same wheeled receptacle to collect both trash and recycling. The bags are then visually sorted into trash or recycling streams based on the content. If a bag of recycling is clean, it will be sent for recycling. If it has contamination of materials that shouldn't be there, it will be treated as trash.
Waste Streams Life Cycle
Trash
Recycling
Cardboard
Confidential Documents & Shredded Paper
Bulk Waste
Regulated Medical Waste
Hazardous Waste (chemicals, chemotherapeutics, regulated substances, expired medications)
Universal Waste (batteries, mercury, lamps, waste oil)
Electronics
You can help us reduce waste and improve diversion rates before you recycle.
- Preventing waste from entering our campus (do you really need that extra shopping bag? Can you bring your own?)
- Reducing the amount of waste you generate (choose a product with less packaging)
- Reusing (bring your own reusable water bottle and cup)