In Our Nature

Hello everyone! My name is Elena Hamblin, and I’m thrilled to join UW Sustainability as the Outreach and Events Intern! Born and raised in Seattle, I’m a senior double majoring in Political Science and International Studies, bringing a deep passion to intersectional sustainability. My previous experience as a NextGen Climate Equity Intern at the King County Department of Natural Resources allowed me to dive into community-centered climate action, helping implement the county’s strategic climate action plan.

At UW Sustainability, I'll be working with the...

UW Recycling answers 10 common recycling myths that pop up on campus.

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We've all had those moments - holding an item over the recycling bin and trying to decide where it goes. Should it go in recycling? Compost? Landfill?

Here are five tips from UW Recycling to help you recycle properly on the Seattle campus.

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There are plenty of common questions that come up when talking to new Huskies on campus. UW Recycling is here to provide some answers.

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Sustainability is part of the fabric of the University of Washington. One of the ten goals in the UW Sustainability Action Plan is to produce ten percent less solid waste by 2025. This means reducing the amount of waste the UW sends to the landfill by ten percent.

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.

Welcome new (and returning) students! With Fall quarter starting, Dawg Daze has tons of events to help new students learn about campus and resources at the UW. There are many events focusing on sustainability, including campus tours and student group meetings.

We've put together a list of some of the Dawg Daze events related to sustainability, including ways to learn more about the UW Sustainability office and how you can get engaged with sustainability efforts on campus. Find even more events on the Dawg Daze site.

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The Washington & Oregon Higher Education Sustainability Conference (WOHESC) is now accepting proposals for the next conference, to be held March 5-7, 2025, at Portland Community College. The conference theme is "Cultivating Sustainable Communities."

Submissions for program content, speakers and sessions will be accepted until October 18, 2024. See the full details below or as a PDF.

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The phrase recycling contamination isn’t clear to people outside of the waste industry. Let’s break it down:

According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, contaminate means "to soil, stain, corrupt, or infect by contact or association" or "to make inferior or impure by admixture." In recycling, a contaminant is something that should not be in recycling because it can degrade other materials or the recycling process.

Common recycling contaminants that damage materials are food and liquids. Food and liquids in...

As we look toward the Fall quarter, I’m encouraged by our accomplishments of the past academic year and even more excited about what’s to come.

Over the past few months we’ve completed UW’s first comprehensive Greenhouse Gas Inventory, introduced a proposal to reduce the University’s emissions from air travel, started the process of creating the next Sustainability Action Plan and much more.

Our team has also grown over the past few months. I’m pleased to introduce three new UW Sustainability staff members: Campus Sustainability Fund Program Director Danny Arguetty; Planning...

UW students living in the North campus neighborhood can get rid of unwanted items for free during the Husky Neighborhood Cleanup. On Monday, September 23 and Tuesday, September 24 trucks will be on site accepting items for recycling or disposal.

A UW student Husky card will be required to drop off material. Items can be taken on those days to the median at 17th Ave NE & NE 47th St. from 1 to 5 p.m. or until the trucks are full.

Accepted items include:

• Recyclable materials, including scrap metal and painted or unpainted wood
• Disposal...