Resources and Statistics
How to Recycle on Campus
Campus Recycling Options
We have recycling locations across campus for easy sorting and recycling.
Designated Stations*
You can recycle household plastic, paper, and aluminum in Liberty’s recycling stations. Indoor recycling stations are installed all across campus! Whether you’re in an academic building, the JFL, athletic facilities, or recreational spaces, you’ll find these stations readily available for your recycling needs.
Outdoor Pedestrian Cans*
There are two types of outdoor recycling/waste containers. The outdoor pedestrian can offers single-stream recycling. Place cans and plastic bottles in the recycling container, and all other items in the waste container. Pedestrian cans are located across campus for your convenience!
In the fall of 2023, we installed “BigBelly” bins on the Academic lawn and in the area between the Hill Dorms and the Divinity Tower. These bins compact waste to save space and offer faculty, staff, and students the chance to participate in single-stream recycling. Place cans and plastic bottles in recycling, and all other items in the waste.
*Glass and plastic bags are not recyclable at these locations. Please dispose of glass with waste and recycle plastic bags at your local grocery store.
Recycling in Residential Halls
Students are responsible for taking their recycling and waste from their dorm room and disposing of them at recycling locations. Our residential dorms have outdoor and indoor recycling/waste drop-off locations.
You can recycle household plastic, paper, and aluminum in the Residential Commons waste rooms*. Waste rooms are conveniently located on each floor of Residential Commons 1-4. These rooms have waste chutes and blue recycling toters.
Please consider the size of your waste bag before putting it in the chute. Large waste bags can jam the chute.
For all other dorms, you can recycle household plastic, paper, and aluminum in the campus enclosures*. These enclosures are provided for residential hall waste and are conveniently located outside your dormitories. The enclosures have cardboard and waste dumpsters, plus blue recycling toters.
*Please remember that glass and plastic bags are not recyclable at these locations. Please dispose of glass with your regular waste and recycle plastic bags at your local grocery store.
Recycling Best Practices
Can I recycle this?
Click the links below to learn how to recycle specific items on campus, and learn how to avoid the most common mistakes!
Looking Back
We preserve the land by diverting recyclable materials from the landfill. The statistics below display our results for the 2024-2025 academic year. At that point in time, our recycling efforts reached a total of 593.4 tons, including 322.09 tons of metal, 12.2 tons of paper, 225.64 tons of cardboard, 15.94 tons of single-stream recyclables, and 17.53 tons of other materials. In comparison, our total waste was standing at 3,240.01 tons, resulting in a diversion rate of 15.5%.
Our current goal is to reach an 18% diversion rate by June 2026.
(Our Diversion Rate is the percentage of materials diverted from the landfill.)
Every time we take one second to sort our recyclables instead of tossing them in the waste, we’re moving closer to our goal!
Composting at Liberty
Liberty currently composts manure from our equestrian program; however, we do not include this compost in our diversion rate. We aim to create a comprehensive compost program that includes food scraps and more.
What Can We Do Today?
Reach out to the Recycling Team!
You can always find us at recycling@liberty.edu
Keep Learning and Growing!
Explore Some Extra Resources: