As a part of the annual RecycleMania college and university waste reduction competition spanning the months of February and March, the MSU Surplus Store and Recycling Center is hosting special events and promoting programs that help Spartans reduce waste.

Activities include:

• Office Clean-Outs
• Electronic Waste Collection
• Collection to reuse/recycle books
• Upcycled Valentine’s Craft Workshop
• Tours of the Material Recovery Facility
• Campus Building Waste Sort
• Waste Warrior Info Sessions
• More to be announced

Since the founding of RecycleMania in 2001, more than 1,000 colleges across North America have participated in the tournament. In the 2018 competition, the program set records by diverting more than 68.6 million pounds of waste from landfills, which is estimated to have prevented the release of over 94,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide.

In 2017, MSU tallied a 37% recycling rate, though when factoring in the waste diverted from the landfill through compost efforts, MSU’s diversion rate jumped to an average of almost 50%. Still the Surplus Store and Recycling Center aims to increase the campus diversion rate to 70% by 2024. That would mean that over 2/3 of the general building waste generated on campus will be spared from ending up in the Granger Landfill, located just northwest of Eastwood Towne Center.

“Our department operates the university’s waste hauling services including recycling, surplus goods and trash” said SSRC Manager Kris Jolley. “We make 10 trips to the landfill each week, and dump about an average of 24,000 pounds each time". But, data collected during building waste sorts indicates that 40% of the trash that ends up in the landfill could have potentially be recycled. We’re excited about RecycleMania because it challenges all of us on campus to think twice before buying something disposable or tossing it away.”

Faculty and staff who are interested in taking a more active role in managing their waste as a resource are encouraged to become Waste Warriors. The new program from Surplus & Recycling is designed to give faculty and staff a better understanding of how to utilize the services offered and stay up to date when new services are rolled out. The program also connects like-minded colleagues from across campus through free events such as facility tours, building waste sorts, upcycled art workshops, zero waste lifestyle workshops, brown bag talks, and movie screenings. Since last summer, over 220 faculty/staff have signed up as Waste Warriors.

Select RecycleMania activities are open to Waste Warriors only, including the Office-Clean Out service and the hands-on waste sort. For more information about the events happening during RecycleMania visit the event page.