Purchasing and Waste
Materials management means improving the lifecycle impact of our purchasing choices to ensure a healthy planet for people and the environment, and reducing the carbon footprint of our materials. We are also working to reduce our overall waste, by increasing recycling and composting and more importantly, reducing and reusing.
Materials Management
Cornell University’s R5 Operations manages non-hazardous waste and recycling system. R5's overarching goals involve reducing overall waste, increasing the campus waste diversion rate, and ensuring regulatory support.
Learn more about:
Reduce Your Waste Impact
Calculate your current resource use and browse tips to reduce your waste impact.
Reuse & Recycling
Cornell cuts waste to an absolute minimum by reusing and recycling. How low can you go?
Electronic Waste
Shop or drop electronics the sustainable way.
Food Waste
The U.S. issues the highest amount of food waste per county. At Cornell, many steps are taken to reduce food waste.
Sustainable Purchasing
Need to make purchasing decisions for your department or workspace? Cornell makes finding sustainable products easy with e-SHOP.
Beyond Waste
Join the entire Cornell community in (re)learning how to reduce personal waste and improve our waste sorting skills.
Green Your Event
Learn how to make your events and programs more sustainable.
Green Your Space
The tools to help strengthen space efficiency and sustainability.
