As a member of the Hokie Nation, a student becomes part of VT’s mission to be a zero-waste campus. Read about how VT has been globally ranked for sustainability efforts, and check out how each student can help us keep moving forward through sustainable living, sustainable dining, and sustainable transportation.
Do you know a Hokie living on campus in 2025? Here are some resources to help them live a successful, sustainable life on campus!
Recycling
Hokies can recycle the following items:
- Plastic bottles (#1 and #2 only)
- Paper and cardboard
- Aluminum cans
VT does single stream recycling on campus. All of the above can be put together in a recycling dumpster nearest your residence hall. No sorting required!
Composting
- Our dining facilities compost food waste and containers from the dining centers
- Our dining centers have compostable items such as cups, straws, and to-go flatware
YTOSS
- The YMCA at Virginia Tech collects items such as books, clothing, and small electronics every spring during move-out. Students and families can donate items. The items collected are available to other Hokies during the Y-toss sale each fall.
- Learn more about YTOSS, items sold there, and check back for fall '25 updates coming soon!
Hokies Should Not:
Contaminate recycling materials with trash materials
- When trash is improperly disposed of in recycling bins, it contaminates the entire load of recycling.
- Contaminated recycling must be sent to the landfill.
- If you throw just one bag of trash into the wrong bin, you may disrupt an entire dumpster’s worth of recycling and add over 1,200 pounds of waste to landfills with each contaminated dumpster.
- Trash sent to landfills generates more greenhouse gas emissions than waste that is properly recycled.
Put recycling in the trash compactor or dumpster. The compactors are not intended for recycling disposal.
Summer Giveaway
This information is provided as part of the Campus Countdown summer giveaway for the class of 2029! Incoming Hokies can follow along with our interactive email series this summer to win big and prepare for on-campus living.
View the move-in email archive, with move-in information sent to your Hokie, or click the links below for more information to share with the Hokies in your life:
