Recycling

COA's recycling program that reaches every floor of every building on campus. Every office has a paper recycling bin, all buildings also have sorting bins for returnable bottles, recyclable bottles and cans and paper products. (COA recycles office paper, paperboard, cardboard, aluminum, glass, #2 plastics and returnable items.) Printer cartridges are also recycled through the library.

No bottled water is used on campus.

Composting

All food at COA is composted, as are napkins and most of the disposable tableware used for any college events for which washable tableware is not suitable. Most of the college's compost is removed to its organic farm, Beech Hill Farm, though some is composted within Green Cones™ placed around campus.

Hazardous Waste

At COA, the destination of hazardous waste is taken seriously. The college works with EPI, a company out of Portland, Maine which confirms the final location of the waste and the safety of both its handling and deposition.

Historic efforts

Statewide
During the school year of 1972 to 1973, the first year of classes at College of the Atlantic, students played a key role in lobbying for the Maine refundable beverage bottle legislation that would be enacted in 1976. Maine would be the third state with a statewide bottle bill program.

Local
In 1982, Glen Berkowitz's senior project launched Bar Harbor's recycling center. Needless to say, it's still going strong.