Recycling and Composting
The diversion program at Conestoga College is a waste management program that was introduced to minimize waste and reduce "garbage" by diverting as much waste as possible from landfills through reducing, reusing, recycling and composting initiatives.
Conestoga College has a goal of surpassing the 60% diversion rate established by the Ministry of the Environment set out as a guideline. As the College grows and expands, so does the amount of waste generated, but with diligent effort by all, the actual per capita waste production is shrinking and has decreased by 12% to 0.023 MT/Person in 2010. Continued monitoring and adaptation of the diversion programs in place, combined with sustained marketing and promotion of these programs encourages application of proper sorting methods by the college community.
The current waste diversion streams available to all at the College are:
- Bottles and Containers Recycling: Plastic/Glass/Metal
- Paper Recycling
- Organic composting
A list of Acceptable and Not-Acceptable items in each of these streams, as well as locations and types of collection bins available throughout the college can be found here:
Plastic/Glass/Metal
Acceptable
- Aluminum cans
- Steel cans
- Unbroken glass of any colour
- Plastic bottles and containers with a number 1-5, and 6 - rigid containers and lids only.
Not Acceptable
- Styrofoam
- Bags
- Plastic packaging or wrapping
- Plastic with a number 7
Paper
Acceptable
- White/coloured paper
- White/coloured envelopes with windows
- Booklets/manuals
- Fax/telex copy paper
- Greeting cards
- Adding machine tape
- Post-It notes
- Soft covered books with white pages
- Manila folders
- Magazines
- Newspapers
- Telephone directories
- Brown/golden kraft envelopes
Not Acceptable
- Paper with food waste on it
- Pizza boxes
- Lunch bags
- Coffee cups
- Cellophane (candy wrappers)
- Tissues
- Paper towels
- Carbon paper
Organics
Acceptable
- All food scraps
- Coffee cups (PAPER, no lids)
- Cotton balls
- Facial tissues
- Nuts shells
- Paper napkins
- Sugar & sweetener packets
- Tea bags (except Lipton pyramid tea bags)
- Tissues
- Toothpicks (wood)
- Food soiled paper
- Paper bags
- Paper plates
Not Acceptable
- Plastic of any kind
- Paper that can be recycled instead
- Glass
- Metal
In the Classrooms/Labs*
*Workshops and labs - the recycling and garbage bins vary to suit the type and volume of materials generated.
- Plastic, cans and glass bottles/containers - Blue bin
- Paper only - Gray bin
- Garbage - Black bin
In Cafeterias
- Circle - Plastic, cans and glass bottles/containers
- Triangle - Food, napkins and coffee cups (no lids) go here
- Square - Garbage
- Rectangle - Paper
In Hallways
- Paper only - Blue bin with rectangular opening
- Plastic/cans/glass bottles and containers - Blue bin with round opening
- Garbage Bin - Brown bin with a dome lid.
Additional student accessible collection programs are:
- Battery Recycling (Doon Campus - CSI Office, Housekeeping Office)
- ThinkRecycle: cell phones, inkjet cartridges, toner cartridges, digital cameras, iPods and MP3 players (Doon Campus)
The college provides internal diversion programs for:
- OCC
- E-waste
- Ink Toner and Cartridges
- CFL Lightbulbs
- Confidential paper
- Post-consumer Kitchen Grease
- Wood Pallets
- Hazardous Oil
- Construction Material
- Sawdust
- Wood Scrap
- Steel/Metal Scrap
- Books
- Furniture
- Donations of all useable products such as machinery and equipment, refurbished PC's, etc.