Help keep your recyclables going around and around by purchasing products with recycled content. If we don't buy recycled, we aren't really recycling! Middlebury College is a member of the Buy Recycled Business Alliance, a program initiated by the National Recycling Coalition. We actively seek products with recycled content when making purchases for the college campus. A wide variety of recycled products are also available in the College Store and recycled papers are in stock at Reprographics. Pre-consumer Waste: This consists of the scraps, overruns, and misprints from a manufacturer's production process. Reusing these fibers has always been a cost-effective way to eliminate waste as well as obtain material for the production of new paper. While this is an important conservation method, it does not promote household or commercial recycling programs. Paper has always been made with some pre-consumer waste but companies never advertised it for fear of making their product look inferior. Post-consumer Waste: Materials listed under this category have been produced, sold, consumed and collected before they are recycled. In a nutshell, they have served their intended consumer function and are headed back into the resource stream. Everything you recycle at home, school or work falls into this category. The use of these fibers promotes household and business recycling programs by creating markets for our recyclables. For programs to survive, it is essential that consumers purchase products with at least a minimal percentage of post-consumer waste.