NRC Campus Council
Campus meets circularity.
A national NRC community connecting students, educators, researchers, campus sustainability leaders and recycling professionals to strengthen collaboration, speed up practical progress and prepare the next generation of sustainable materials management leaders.
Learning · research · careers · circularity
A new national conversation
What happens when campuses and the recycling industry work together?
Colleges and universities are centers of education, research, innovation, workforce development and community leadership. Recycling professionals face changing technologies, markets, policies, infrastructure needs and workforce demands. Campus Council brings those worlds together.
Campus
Knowledge + Innovation
Students, faculty, researchers and campus sustainability professionals bring new ideas, applied research, living laboratories and the talent pipeline that will shape the future.
The connection
A Place to Build Together
NRC builds a bridge between higher education and the professional sustainable materials management community, so expertise, opportunities and relationships move in both directions.
Industry
Experience + Opportunity
Recycling organizations, governments, nonprofits and private-sector professionals bring operational experience, real-world challenges, career pathways and chances to collaborate.
Campus Council focus
From campus challenges to national opportunities.
The Council is being built around the areas where collaboration between higher education and the sustainable materials management community can create measurable progress.
Campus Circularity
Recycling, reuse, organics, waste prevention and circular systems that can be implemented, evaluated and improved on campus.
Curriculum + Education
Building sustainable materials management, circularity and resource conservation into academic and professional education.
Research + Innovation
Connecting researchers with real-world materials challenges, pilot projects, applied research and technology transfer.
Careers + Workforce
Internships, practicums, mentorship, professional development and career pathways into the SMM workforce.
Policy + Community
How campuses interact with communities, public policy, government programs and regional sustainability work.
Partnerships + Replication
Finding successful programs and models that campuses and organizations across the country can adapt.
Who should take part?
Everyone has a role in building the next generation of circularity.
The strongest ideas come when people who learn, research, operate, regulate and innovate work together.
Education + opportunity
Build the pathway into the field.
Campus Council can connect emerging leaders with the practitioners, organizations and systems they will one day help lead.
Help shape what comes next
The Campus Council Virtual Summit.
Join the national conversation on the future of recycling and sustainability in higher education. November 2026, online.