Environmental Health and Radiation Safety minimizes waste through the following items: 1) Chemical Redistribution (the taking of unused and unexpired chemicals and allocating them to other labs); 2) Mercury Exchange (changing out mercury-containing equipment for mercury-free alternatives); 3) Chemical Recycling (certain chemicals can be recycled and reused, saving on the cost of purchasing new chemicals or the disposal of old ones).

Temple recycles mixed paper, cardboard, and comingled beverage containers. In FY 2011, the university captured 1,044.83 tons of core materials. Offices are provided with desk side mixed paper recycling containers. Large hallways and common spaces are equipped with comingled beverage containers and mixed paper containers. Apartments and suites in the residence halls are equipped with individual recycling containers for paper and comingled beverage containers. Click to learn more about what can be recycled at Temple.

University departments give their surplus to the Office of Facilities Management. This surplus furniture is made available to other departments on campus as an alternative to purchasing new furniture. This is both a recycling and waste minimization program.

Temple captures leaves, tree limbs and brush and utilizes it to create mulch. In FY 2012, approximately 124 tons of organic landscaping waste was diverted from the waste stream.

The Recycling Office works with a private individual who collects the empty pallets on campus for reuse. In FY 2011, the university recycled 72.58 tons of pallets.

Temple has plastic bag recycling collection centers located around campus. Click to find locations.

In 2010, the university launched a new recycling initiative aimed at recovering and recycling scrap metal. Approximately 43 tons were collected in FY 2012.

Tyler, the Office of Facilities Management and New Age Blast Media partnered to collect recycled glass from the Tyler glass blowing studio as a raw material for reuse.