Sat. April 22 • Noon - 4 p.m. @ Surplus Store & Recycling Center 

Celebrate Earth Day! Join in a freecycle swap, make upcycled art, tour the recycling and vermicompost facilities, and enjoy music by DJs with Impact 89FM. This event is part of the MSU Science Festival , and is hosted in collaboration with MSU Office of Sustainability and MSU Libraries’ Hollander Makerspace. 

Let us know you're coming! RSVP here.

Freecycle clothing and books

• Participate in freecycling, the free activity of offering goods to others who can use them, and/or accepting goods (as needed) that are freely given.
• The Surplus Store will donate a selection of items to help stock the Clothes & Books Freecycle
• We encourage you to bring good-condition clothing or books that you no longer need/want and add them to the freecycle tables.
• Attendees who do not bring items to give away are still welcome to browse and can accept goods to take home

Go green and get creative

• Stitch a handy holder for that unruly stash of plastic bags, which we all do our best to avoid!
• Decorate an upcycled planter and re-home a small plant (while supplies last).
• Chill out with watercolor paints and repurpose scrap paper or old book pages.
• Learn about DIY low-waste alternatives for everyday living.

Explore the facility

• Find out how MSU Recycling process campus recyclables into commodities that will become recycled feedstock.
  • Spartan students work in our material recovery facility and focus on sorting recycling that’s been tossed in bins all over campus. See where they work and how they manage sorting all of it by hand! Last year, 95% of the recycling that came through our material recovery facility (4.7 million pounds!) was sent to Michigan manufacturers. Learn how MSU earns revenue from recycled material, and look closely at a bale of recycling, which typically weigh 1,200 to 1,500 lbs.!
• See the Grow Green Vermicompost operation and meet the Spartan worms who help us turn campus food scraps into plant food!
  • Food scraps generated during kitchen prep are collected from residence halls and hauled back to our site, where its pre-composted and then fed to nearly one million worms! The nitrogen-rich food waste is first mixed with carbon-rich plant matter and before being spread onto two heaping piles (known as wedges), that are home to hard-working Spartan worms. Find out how the system works and learn the benefits of returning organic waste back to the soil.
• At the end of the tour, browse through the Surplus Store , MSU's own thrift store!
  • The Surplus Store is a place to shop for everyday items, plus unique MSU collectibles. The Surplus Store facilitates reuse while also providing affordable secondhand options that many Spartans need. The store sells good-condition items that are no longer needed by campus departments, as well as items that have been donated through the MSU Community Reuse program.