UW Recycling

Five winners transformed trash into stunning art pieces in the third annual UW Trash Art Contest.

The contest, organized by UW Recycling, received more than 20 submissions from students, faculty and staff in the categories of literature, 2D art and 3D art. The artwork needed to be created from items normally thought of as trash. Artists were asked to express feelings or ideas about waste, or a sustainability topic that relates to waste.

This year's winners were:

UW Recycling is excited to host another Trash Art Contest for 2022!  

The categories this year include literature, 2D and 3D art. Participants must create an art piece from items normally thought of as trash or a literary piece about waste. Art pieces should express feelings or ideas about waste, or a sustainability topic that relates to waste. This contest is open to all UW students, faculty and staff.

The UW is recognized as a national leader for its deep commitment to sustainability on our campuses and in the community.

Looking forward to living on campus? Follow these tips to make move-in easier and reduce your waste.

1. Bring only what you need

Don’t let those MUST HAVE shopping lists distract you - only get the basics that you’ll need. Before you start shopping, take note of all the things you use in your everyday life and will continue to use.

Julie Ira is a junior in the Program on the Environment, studying Environmental Studies. She recently received a group Husky Green Award for her work on the leadership team for the Green Greek Representative Program. She wrote about her experience as an intern with UW Recycling for the UW Facilities' blog.

With summer around the corner, many of us are excited to spend more time outside getting our hands dirty in the garden. To celebrate International Compost Awareness Week, the UW Recycling team has unearthed a list of movies and books to provide some inspiration. Each resource was hand-picked to teach the importance of soil health and giving back to the earth. 

Winners of the 2021 Trash Art Contest express impacts on the environment through written and sculpted art pieces.

Enter the 2022 Trash Art Contest

2022 Trash Art Contest

Garbage may not be the most ideal art material, but it combines conservation and art creation to achieve profound results.

UW Recycling is excited to host another Trash Art Contest for 2021! The contest is part of this year's Campus Race to Zero Waste (previously RecycleMania).

November 15 is America Recycles Day! To celebrate, UW Recycling wants to take a trip down memory lane to the early days of recycling at the University. Want to do more? Check out a list of recommended activities from our team below.

Adam Fehn is a Program Coordinator with UW Recycling

You're probably already familiar with the 3 R's: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. And when we think about if something can be recycled, we usually think of the material as the main factor. Paper, check. Metal, check. Glass, check. Easy! Well, we'd love it if it was that easy. What determines if an item can be successfully recycled is actually more complicated. This is why recycling can seem so confusing.