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WVU recycles nearly 17 tons of cardboard during move-in weekend

sustainability recycling

In support of WVU Sustainability efforts, student volunteers helped students and parents recycle 16.85 tons of cardboard during the fall 2022 move-in weekend, Aug. 11-13.

That amount of recycled cardboard can save the equivalent of 775 gallons of oil. This year’s totals are almost three tons more than the volume of cardboard recycled during the fall 2021 move-in weekend.

Cardboard and plastic wrap are two of the highest-volume waste commodities during move-in weekend. Cardboard also is a high-volume recyclable year-round for the University.

In fact, cardboard accounts for approximately 50% of the University’s single-stream recycling in a given year.

The Office of Sustainability’s move-in weekend cardboard recycling program is an annual event. In addition to supporting WVU’s sustainability goals, the program helps set the tone among first-year students that ‘Mountaineers Recycle.’

Breaking down cardboard during move-in weekend keeps our campus cleaner and leaves space open for our students to move into their residence halls.

Recycling cardboard also saves trees, water and energy, as well as reduces the number of chemical pollutants needed to break down wood pulp into the raw material for cardboard.

Visit the Office of Sustainability website for more information and details on how to get involved in sustainability efforts at WVU. To learn more about WVU Sustainability, follow @letsconservewvu on Instagram and Twitter and @wvusustainability on Facebook.