Cal Zero Waste FAQs

If there are bin(s) that need to be serviced in your department, call the Facilities Services desk at (510) 642-1034 or submit a service request and initiate a work order.

UC Berkeley's Real Estate Campus Design Standard (Section 3 - Building - Waste Services) provides official information on the University's zero waste enclosure protocol.

Eliminating desk-side bins helps us improve landfill diversion rates, decrease contamination, reduce costs, and increase custodial efficiency.

To request extra bins for an event, please call the Facilities Services desk at (510) 642-1032 or submit a service request form and refer to our Approved Zero Waste Caterers and Facilities page for information on zero waste catering. To ensure that the bins are serviced and placed properly, contact us at least two weeks prior to the event.

To request a cart to recycle paper materials please refer to these clean-out cart request guidelines and call the Facilities Services desk at (510) 642-1032 or submit a service request to initiate a work order.

For office materials that could be reused, contact the Facilities Services desk at (510) 642-1032 or fill out this service request form and initiate a work order so that these items can be repurposed and redistributed.

The UC Berkeley Mail Services department delivers, services, and manages the Cal Shredding Service program. Please refer to their website, mailservices.berkeley.edu, for further questions.

The UC Berkeley Surplus operation has teamed with the campus' Environmental Health and Safety department to contract with an electronic waste vendor for the demanufacturing of all electronic waste (E-waste) generated by or taken in at the Berkeley campus. This department handles all electronic waste such as computers, televisions, and stereos. Refer to the Berkeley Property Management website to coordinate a drop-off.

To dispose of hazardous materials such as batteries, paint, and medical waste, contact the Office of Environment, Health & Safety at 642-3073.

UC Berkeley Mailing Services handles printer and toner cartridge recycling. Empty cartridges should be placed in their original packaging or appropriate box and placed in your department's outgoing mail. Mail Services will pick them up and recycle them free of charge. For more information please refer to their website: mailservices.berkeley.edu.

Staples, cellophane, and adhesives do not need to be removed before depositing them in the mixed paper bin. Paperclips and binder clips should be removed so that they can be reused.

TGIF (The Green Initiative Fund) has been an invaluable resource for our office's waste reduction projects and initiatives over recent years. Please refer to their website for the specific projects that Cal Zero Waste collaborated with them on.

The Compost Alliance and Zero Waste Building Initiatives upgraded the university's diversion and recycling systems, namely adding composting at various pilot locations on campus.

The Beverage Alliance Grant Program funded numerous indoor centralized recycling collection bins, including many of the cabinet bins found throughout campus.

Landfill waste is transported to Golden Bear Transfer Station in Richmond. It's then consolidated and hauled by semitrucks to Keller Canyon Landfill near Pittsburg.

Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) manages all hazardous waste at the Hazardous Materials Facility, located on Frank Schlesinger Way, just east of the Hellman tennis complex. Hazardous waste is collected, labeled, packaged, and then transported to various off campus treatment facilities depending on the waste type.

Mixed paper/cardboard goes to the Berkeley Recycling Center / Community Conservation Center located in Berkeley.

Cans and Bottles is serviced by Civicorp and is taken to a Materials Recovery Facility in Union City.

Food waste is composted all together with other organics such as landscape waste and grass clippings. It is transported to the West Contra Costa Landfill in Richmond, and a small portion of the compost materials are also transported to the City of Berkeley Transfer Station.

Recycling Protocol Decision Tree – Polycarbin

*Anything being put into Polycarbin should still abide by EH&S guidelines first and foremost

Permitted in Bins:

Plastic type 1 (PETE)

Items with stickers/labels still attached

BSL1 (only recombinant DNA, and must be autoclaved or treated with liquid bleach before recycling....

Read more

Submit a service request through Facilities Services: FS - Submit Service Request

Plastic type 3 is PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) and is not recyclable due to the toxic chemicals that are released during its breakdown process.

Plastic type 4 is LDPE (low density polyethylene) and is often a softer plastic type, which our program is not set to recycle.

Plastic type 7 consists of all Polycarbonates and “other” plastic types, meaning there is no set standard for how they should be recycled.

The materials used to make gloves are often not recyclable in a meaningful way, and so the process is considered downcycling. This means the product is recycled into another lower quality product that may not be recyclable (eg. recycling nitrile gloves into plastic pellets to make tires). This does not align with the circular economy framework used by Cal Zero Waste. There are many other companies that do gloves recycling, but labs should set that up independently.

2007-2008: 5,995 tons

2008-2009: 6,838 tons

2009-2010: 4,400 tons

2010-2011: 5,001 tons

2011-2012: 4,780 tons

2012-2013: 4,622 tons

2014-2015: 4,462 tons

2015-2016: 4,096 tons

2016-2017: 4,062 tons

2017-2018: 3,718 tons