Environment and sustainability
Recycling at York St John
Learn more about recycling and how to dispose of your waste on campus.
Recycling bins are available across our campus so that you can be part of the effort to reach our sustainability goals.
Explore the types of bins and what can be recycled in each below. This guide applies to our York campus, York St John University Sports Park at Haxby Road, and our York accommodation sites. For information for students living in private rented accommodation, and for an overview of the University's waste management processes, visit our Waste management page.
All recyclable items must be clean, dry and uncontaminated. If the recycling waste is wet or contaminated with oil or foods it cannot be recycled and must go in the non-recyclable (general) waste.
Glass bin
Glass bins can accept:
- Clean glass bottles
- Clean glass jars
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Food bin
Food bins can accept:
- All food
- Any tea bags
- Food scrapings
- Peelings
- Coffee grounds
You can put any brand of tea bags in our food bins to recycle. Some brands do use plastic in tea bags which is not fully biodegradable, but we can still collect them as food waste. When these bags go through the anaerobic digestion process, the plastic is removed to allow the rest to be composted.
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Paper and cardboard bin
Paper and cardboard bins can accept:
- Clean paper and cardboard
- Newspapers and magazines
Empty cardboard cartons and Tetra packs can be recycled as long as they are cleaned and dry.
Single-use paper cups and pizza boxes must be disposed of in non-recyclable waste bins.
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Mixed recycling bins
Mixed recycling bins can accept:
- Empty plastic bottles
- Empty food and drink cans
- Empty milk and juice cartons
- Clean and dry plastic pots, tubs and trays
- Empty aerosol cans
Remember that if a recyclable material is contaminated with food or oil, it needs to go in the non-recyclable (general) waste, so that the rest of the recycling material is not contaminated.
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Non-recyclable waste
The following items should be disposed of in non-recyclable (general) waste bins:
- Single use coffee cups
- Sweet and chocolate wrappers
- Crisp packets
- Items contaminated with food, oil, grease, or paint
- Tissues, paper towels, napkins, and kitchen roll
- Till receipts
- Laminated paper cups
- Pizza boxes
Our recycling journey
Download this infographic as an accessible PDF: York St John University Recycling Journey (PDF, 0.2MB)
