Don’t trash it!
There are many ways to reuse or recycle materials instead of throwing them out. This section has information about recycling, composting, and electronic waste (E-Waste) in New Haven. If you’re looking for something more comprehensive, check out this New Haven-specific guide that the New Haven Bio-regional Group put together about reusing and recycling. You can also find more Yale-specific information from the Office of Sustainability. Read on for information about recycling, composting, and E-Waste.
Recycling
New Haven is very lucky to have single stream recycling, meaning that paper, plastic, metal, and glass can all go in the same bin. However sometimes it’s still confusing what can get recycled and what can’t. The poster below will give you the answers. And if you still can’t figure out what to do with something, you can search on RecycleCT to find out if/how to recycle a specific item. If you are unable to recycle the item in Connecticut, you might have better luck with TerraCycle, a company that specializes in recycling hard-to-recyle materials.
If you don’t know the recycling pick up schedule, you can find out on the City of New Haven’s website. And if your landlord is refusing to recycle, let them know that the 1991 Mandatory Recycling Act requires that everyone in Connecticut recycles.
Composting
Composting is a great way to turn your food and yard scraps away from the dump and into something nutritious for the garden. There are several ways that you can compost your food scraps in New Haven.
Do you want a compost collection service to come to your home?
Peels and Wheels is a small New Haven organization that will pick up your food scraps every week for a small monthly fee.
Do you want to compost on your own?
- Here’s a guide from the EPA with backyard composting basics.
- Did you know that you can use worms to compost your food scraps indoors? It’s called vermicomposting, and it’s easy. Here’s a guide from the New York City Department of Sanitation.
Are you on Yale’s campus?
All of Yale’s residential college dining halls and several other dining locations on campus compost their food waste.
Electronic Waste
Many electronic devices cannot be put in the trash or the normal recycling. If you have batteries, light bulbs, old electronics, flashlights, etc. you should recycle them in one of the ways listed below. If you can’t figure out where to recycle something, use the handy Earth911 website. Don’t forget to clear the memory of your electronic devices before recycling them.
On campus
- If your office has old electronics or light bulbs, submit a pick-up request to Yale Environmental Health and Safety (EHS). Select the “Universal Waste” category and describe your E-Waste. Someone from EHS will pick it up. You cannot recycle batteries through this process.
- If you’re recycling batteries on campus, you need to make a request through EHS Integrator. Choose the “new non-lab request option,” and put in your request.
Other New Haven resources
- The New Haven Department of Public Works hosts two electronic waste pick-ups per year. If you don’t want to wait, you can go to the recycling center at 260 Middletown Avenue.
- Did you know you can get a gift card to Apple by returning old devices? Apple will recycle many of your old technology products for free (regardless of whether they are Apple products) and they even give you a gift card to Apple for some of them. See if one of your old devices qualifies.
- For a more comprehensive list of where to dispose of or recycle different materials in New Haven, look at the New Haven Bio-regional recycling guide.