Late last month, the city of Seattle adopted a new recycling program to provide more recycling options for the city’s residents.

The change means Seattle residents can now recycle more paper, plastic and metal items, which includes cups, deli trays, plastic plant pots and aluminum foil. Residents can also recycle glass bottles and jars together.

UW Housing and Food Services (HFS), however, has yet to implement these changes, which could cause confusion when it comes to campus recycling.

The UW has a contract with Waste Management, Inc., which is a separate recycling and waste contract than used by the city of Seattle. Because of this, the changes implemented by the city will not be seen on campus just yet.

According to an e-mail from UW Recycling and Solid Waste, the department is exploring “how the city of Seattle recycling guidelines may affect UW’s ability to recycle more materials in the future via its collection contract.”

Sophomore Greg Johnsen, associate director of Students Expressing Environmental Dedication (SEED), expressed his concern about the program not taking effect on campus.

“That could lead to a lot of contamination in the on-campus recycle bins by students who don’t realize that items which are recyclable in their home might not be on campus,” he said.

While the city of Seattle implements the improvements, UW Recycling and Solid Waste will continue to work with its vendor in hopes of recycling more material in the future. Even though the improved recycling has yet to be implemented on campus, HFS is still ahead when it comes to composting.

Micheal Meyering, project manager for HFS, highlighted the fact that the UW’s composting and recycling programs are entirely self-contained on campus, meaning that they are separate entities from the city of Seattle’s programs.

The UW is a “notch above the city, diverting 500 tons of compostable waste last year,” Meyering said.

The majority of food containers on campus are compostable rather than recyclable.

Local Seattle businesses are also noticing the new program, with some offering discount coupons to help reduce, recycle and compost. By 2012, the city of Seattle hopes to compost up to 60 percent of the city’s waste.

Reach contributing writer Katelyn Williams at development@dailyuw.com.