Recycling & Waste

Use the Waste Wizard for questions on which bin or waste stream something belongs in. 

For bulky items, donations, or other items that fall outside of trash/recycling/compost, see our Donations and Specialty Recycling resource. 

If you are a student living on campus, or a staff member asking about Harvard-purchased items, you can donate to the Surplus Center. Learn more in our Donations and Specialty Recycling resource. 

If you are not affiliated with Harvard, we unfortunately can't accept your donations. 

Harvard's recycling is processed at a local Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), where items are baled, sold, and turned into new products (details below). Waste vendors don’t want to trash our recyclable items – those are commodities that they can (and do) sell! 

• Aluminum cans → new aluminum cans
• Cans and tins → new tin cans and other metal products
• Aluminum foil → material used in steel manufacturing
• Paper → about 50% shipped to domestic paper mills and 50% exported internationally, mostly to Vietnam, Indonesia, and India
• Glass → all glass is remade into a concrete mix for roadwork and construction
• HDPE plastic → shipped domestically to a plastic processor for variety of new products (car parts, buckets, etc.)
• PET plastic → shipped domestically to make new water bottles, carpeting, and fleece
• Other plastics → shipped domestically, used in making recycled paint cans and furniture

You can see this process in action by joining one of our periodic MRF tours, announced through our newsletter. 

This information can change quickly as recycling markets and supplies are frequently in flux. This page will be updated as needed with any changes.

Materials Recovery Facilities (MRF’s), where recycling streams are processed, have machinery and processes that can sort out many contaminating items. Close to 20% of the material that comes into the recycling facility (not only Harvard’s recycling) is sorted out and disposed of as trash. However, some items can be problematic for MRF’s. For example, plastic bags, cords, and textiles wrap around the sorting machinery, causing delays and serious hazards for the workers that must remove it. 

Some of the most common contaminants are: 

• Items that would normally be recyclable but are contaminated with liquid or food waste (e.g., a soda bottle that is not empty): these belong in the trash if you're unable to empty or rinse them
• Plastic film, such as plastic bags, plastic mailers, bubble wrap, etc.: this should either be recycled in specific film collections or put in the trash
• Utensils: on campus, utensils are usually compostable and can go in a compost bin. Otherwise, they're a trash item
• Compostable plastic: this should go in a compost bin, or a trash bin if composting isn't available

After leaving campus, food waste is processed at a local organics processing facility, the CORe in Charlestown. There it’s de-packaged, mixed into a bioslurry, and transported to Greater Lawrence Sanitary District’s wastewater treatment plant to aid in anaerobic digestion. This contributes to more efficient renewable energy production and produces biosolids as a byproduct.

Most contaminants will get filtered out and disposed of through our food waste vendor’s de-packaging system. Glass is an exception to this: when glass goes through the de-packaging system, it breaks into little pieces and contaminates the food waste.

We transitioned from traditional composting to this new system in 2018. We continue to use “compost” on bin signage because it’s a familiar term for what belongs in this stream, even though the material is processed by anaerobic digestion rather than traditional composting.

Trash is either incinerated at a Massachusetts waste-to-energy plant, or landfilled out of state in New Hampshire or Michigan. The ratio of how much is landfilled versus incinerated changes frequently and depends on facility capacity and wait times. 

Textiles are often distributed for local reuse at our Recycling & Surplus Center. Any unwanted items are then sent to a regional textile recycler. From there, depending on the quality, items are either reused as apparel, or processed for raw materials to be made into rags or insulation.

Mattresses are offered for local reuse at our Surplus Center. We also partner with the United Teen Equality Center to recycle surplus mattresses. UTEC employees deconstruct mattresses to separate foam, steel, wood, and fibers.

Electronic waste and universal waste are processed by an R2-certified e-waste recycler in southeastern MA.

Plastic film (LDPE) is baled at our Recycling & Surplus Center and brought to a local processing facility. It is typically made into plastic bags. 

Ink cartridges are sent to a domestic cartridge recycler, where they are either made into new cartridges or sent back to the original manufacturer.

Wood scraps are sent to a local construction materials recycler, where they are either made into new products or renewable energy.

• Explore our Waste Stewardship Framework and learn about Harvard's work towards a Zero Waste campus
• Read our Top Tips for the most impactful actions you can take
• Host or support a Freecycle, waste audit, or Fixit Clinic
• Explore more ways to get involved through the Resources section at the bottom of this page