Have you ever wondered what happens to your recycling after you drop it in one of our on-campus recycling bins or drop-off facility bins? While you may cease to think about it after you walk or drive away, we spend a lot of time thinking about recyclable materials.

Cuyler is a Senior at MSU studying Sustainable Parks, Recreation, and Tourism. He started working at the Recycling Center just prior to summer break, when he left temporarily for an internship in Colorado. When he returned to Michigan after three months, he brought back a few large trash bags full of plastic recyclables- ones that weren’t accepted for recycling in Colorado. Some people may think this is unique behavior- but a lot of our employees are this dedicated to recycling!

His interest in environmental matters is what inspired him to begin working at our facility. He feels that recycling is overall beneficial for the environment because less trees must be cut down, less metal ore has to be removed from the earth, and less oil needs to be extracted to be made into plastic- instead, we can just make things out of resources we’ve already taken from the earth.

Cuyler encourages students to be more mindful when recycling. He can’t count how many times he’s seen recyclables in the trash bins on campus when there is a recycling bin directly next to it. He also encourages everyone to think about what they’re doing when they prepare their recyclables- don’t just take a sauce jar and put it in your recycling bin, rinse it out first. He’s amazed that some people will go to the trouble of collecting their recycling and bringing them to our drop-off site but won’t take the time to rinse out sauce jars or remove noodles from a take-out container.

In his free time, of which there is very little because he is still a student, he likes to play dodgeball and go hiking when he travels.