Zero waste & reuse programs at the UW

Sustainability is part of the fabric of the University of Washington. One of the goals in the UW Sustainability Action Plan is to reduce the amount of waste the UW sends to the landfill.

Rethinking and reusing items are some of the most impactful ways to move towards our goal. Programs across the UW focus on rethinking and promoting reuse. Below are programs offered at the UW Seattle campus.

Do you know of another program on campus? Email us at recycle@uw.edu and let us know!

Available to
Cost
three happy students ready to greet customers at the uw bean basket counter

Open to UW students, faculty & staff

bikes set up in asuw bike shop to be worked on

Open to UW students, faculty & staff

leaves and compost pile surrounded by a cinder block structure

Departmental reuse program only

a person stacking books in the uw free materials library with a plethora of supplies and books shown

Open to UW Art, Art History & Design students

a significant amount of rock climbing gear on a wall display shelf

Open to UW students, faculty & staff

variety of clothing items in a basket on a desk next to some clothes hangers

Open to the UW community and public

racks of professional clothes

Open to UW students

a group of seven young adults smiling in front of a purple screen

Open to international graduate students in the UW School of Public Health

green cabinet with jars inside; text on the front of cabinet reads little free seed library

Open to the UW community and public

person behind a sewing machine and various spools of colored sewing threads

Available to UW students, faculty & staff. Faculty and staff can purchase a membership or pay a user fee.

wall of board and card games with a poster that reads game collection

Available to active UW Library Card holders

purple reusable container with a salad and fresh fruit inside

Open to UW students

graphic with qr code. Text reads: menstruation station, re-empower building, scan to order your free reusable menstrual products!

Open to UW students, faculty & staff

Available to Housing & Food Services residents

four images: a rustic wood plaque with a husky engraved on it, a wooden standing desk, a conference table with six chairs around, a cutting board engraved with university of washington

UW students, faculty & staff can request and purchase pieces

a pair of high-magnification microscope objective lenses

Open to internal, UW-wide or external users

a person's hand on a Macbook looking at an essay on the screen

Open to UW students at the Seattle campus

person riding a bike with an orange helmet on

Open to UW students

assortment of farm-grown vegetables

UW community and public can purchase membership

outside of the uw food pantry

Open to UW students, faculty & staff

ellipticals in a gym

Departmental reuse program only

a rack of cloths with other items behind; a wall that says uw surplus on the right

Open to UW community and public

a pile of organic material in a big metal container and a person standing in front of the container smiling with a watering can

Departmental reuse program only

uw recycling our university our planet logo

UW Recycling provides daily waste and recycling collection for the UW Seattle campus. However, our role extends well beyond picking up trash. Our staff serve as contract administrators, education and outreach experts, waste diversion innovators and sustainability enthusiasts for the UW Seattle campus.

Have we missed an active zero waste or reuse program at the UW Seattle campus? Please email us at recycle@uw.edu and we’d love to expand this list.

We encourage people to explore the huge number of buy nothing groups and repair / reuse programs across the city of Seattle and Washington state. Please reach out if you’d like us to share community resources in your area that we’re aware of!