Recycling Guide

The Harvey Mudd College Recycling Program aims to promote the recycling of materials, reduce waste on campus, and promote a clean and environmentally conscious campus. We hope this website will not only serve as an information source for the college community, but that it will help foster awareness and interest in recycling.

Questions, comments, and suggestions can be directed to the facilities and maintenance office, located in the Platt Campus Center basement. Please do not hesitate to call us at 909.621.8226.

Where and What We Recycle

Located at convenient locations throughout the Harvey Mudd campus, blue recycling containers can be found for recycling cans, bottles and papers. Perishables and liquids should not be placed in these bins. This recyclable waste is collected by the facilities and maintenance office and forwarded onto the City of Claremont for processing.

For a list of items that are able to be recycled in these containers please see the recycling list below.

Residence Halls

Within the dorms, students have a few options for recycling:

Large Dorm Recycling Containers

Each dorm on campus has a large recycling container, located outside on the perimeter of the dorm or in the dorm courtyard. These containers are managed directly by the individual dorms, who collect and exchange their own recycling, which helps raise dorm funds.If you have questions about your dorm’s recycling program and what can or cannot be recycled please contact your dorm’s recycling officer or dorm president. If your dorm does not have a large container and would like one please contact your dorm president. Earth911 provides locations of places close to campus to recycle your dorm glass, plastic and aluminum.

Individual Room/Suite Recycling Bins

A number of rooms and suites across campus, including all suites in Sontag and South, have their own recycling bins which are managed by the facilities and maintenance. If your room/suite does not have a recycling bin and would like one please notify F&M at facilities@hmc.edu.

Note: Items (e.g. cans and bottles) placed in these bins will not be removed or sorted, such as the large dorm recycling containers mentioned above.

This recyclable waste goes directly to the City of Claremont for processing. These materials do not have to be sorted but should be rinsed thoroughly, if necessary. Please see the below what can be recycled in these bins:

Product MaterialExample Items
Newspapers, Magazines & Mixed Paper
  • Junk mail
  • Cereal boxes
  • Telephone books
  • Catalogs
  • Computer paper
  • Envelopes
  • Copy paper
  • Wrapping paper
  • Brochures
  • Crayon drawings
  • Clean Napkins/Paper Towels (No food residue)
Cardboard, Boxes, etc.
  • Cereal boxes
  • Tissue boxes
  • Food boxes
  • Milk cartons
  • Juice boxes
  • Soda/beer cartons
  • Egg cartons (paper fiber)
  • Paper bags
  • Cardboard boxes
  • Gift boxes
Glass Bottles/Jars*
  • Juice bottles
  • Beer bottles
  • Wine bottles
  • Liquor bottles
  • Baby food jars
  • Condiment jars
  • Jam jars
  • Jelly jars
  • Assorted food jars
  • Salad dressing bottles
Plastic Bottles, Jugs & Jars*
  • Plastics #1-7
  • Styrofoam (no food residue)
  • Grocery Bags
  • Film
  • Packaging
  • Six-pack soda rings
  • Food bottles
  • Laundry soap bottles
  • Motor oil containers
  • Vegetable oil bottles
Aluminum & Metal Cans*
  • Aluminum soda cans
  • Aluminum beer cans
  • Metal Hangers
  • Juice cans
  • Assorted food cans
  • Aluminum Foil (no food residue)
Acceptable Waste for Recycling (Please Rinse Items Marked *)

Not Acceptable for Recycling Bins

  • Soiled pizza boxes
  • Anything containing fabric
  • Light Bulbs
  • Mirrors
  • Drinking glasses
  • Ceramic dishes/cups
  • Plastic lawn furniture or toys

Battery Recycling

Many types of batteries contain hazardous metals which must be disposed of properly to avoid landfill and ground water contamination.

Each dorm has a battery collection bucket. These can be found in the Case, Linde, East and Sontag main dorm lounges, South Proctor suite, outside the North Proctor room, and in the Atwood and West dorm laundry rooms. Academic departments and administrative offices may bring their batteries to F&M for recycling.

These containers can be used to recycle various types of dry cell batteries including alkaline, nickel, cadmium, nickel metal hydride, iron, zinc carbon and silver as well as AA, AAA, C, D and 9-volt batteries.

Please notify facilities and maintenance (facilities@hmc.edu) when your dorm’s container is nearly full and ready for a pick up.

E-Waste Recycling

E-Waste, which is electronics and appliances, such as PCs, cell phones and microwaves, is regulated waste and must not be discarded in the trash. Please see the list below for a breakdown of acceptable E-Waste.

To recycle your E-Waste, please complete the following two steps:

  1. Attach an e-waste collection form (PDF) to the item(s) you’d like picked up for recycling or drop off the item at the facilities and maintenance office.
  2. Complete a work order to have item(s) picked up by your building attendant.
Product MaterialExample Items
Audio and Video Equipment
  • Camcorders
  • Cameras
  • Projection TVs
  • Game systems
  • Radios
  • Stereos
  • Tape players
  • DVD players
  • Televisions
  • VCRs
Computer Systems and Accessories
  • CD-ROM/DVD drives
  • Cables & wires
  • CPUs
  • Keyboards
  • Laptops
  • Mice
  • Monitors
  • Routers
  • Servers
  • Software
  • Speakers
  • UPS systems
Office Equipment
  • Fax machines
  • Printers and scanners
  • Photocopiers
  • Telephones
  • Typewriters
Handheld Devices
  • Cell phones and PDAs
  • Pagers
  • Two-way radios
Acceptable E-Waste for Recycling

Not Acceptable for E-Waste

  • Contaminated equipment of any type
  • Cracked or broken CRT monitors
  • Hair dryers
  • Hot curlers
  • Overhead projectors
  • Toner cartridges
  • Smoke detectors
  • Hazardous equipment of any type
  • Ballasts, light bulb tubes, x-ray equipment, lab equipment, blood or bio waste equipment