Recycling at NC State residence halls will be easier for students returning to campus this fall.
At most outdoor recycling stations, NC State Waste Reduction and Recycling has replaced blue recycling bins and cardboard dumpsters with a green recycling dumpster that accepts multiple types of recyclable material.
“Students can now utilize the green mixed recycling dumpsters for all of their recycling needs,” said Nessa Stone, operations manager for NC State’s Waste Reduction and Recycling Office. “Using these larger collection dumpsters will prevent overflows while also improving efficiency of collection.”
One thing the new dumpsters do not accept are plastic bags, which are only recyclable when collected separately in specialized plastic bag recycling bins in select campus C-Stores or at local retail and grocery stores.
“Recyclables from campus go to a Raleigh recycling center, where equipment sorts the material. Plastic bags get tangled in the equipment, causing costly shutdowns. That’s why it’s important to empty recyclables directly into dumpsters rather than discarding recyclables in a plastic bag,” Stone said.
Other items not accepted in the green mixed recycling dumpsters are foam cups, plastic cups, clamshell food containers, landfill waste, pizza boxes and electronics.
These items are accepted in green mixed recycling dumpsters:
- Plastics (plastic bottles, tubs, yogurt cups)
- Glass, Aluminum & Steel (glass, aluminum and steel containers, including clean aluminum foil and pie tins)
- Mixed Paper (white and colored paper, junk mail, magazines, catalogs, telephone books, paper bags, newspapers)
- Paperboard Boxes (gable top cartons such as milk or juice cartons, cereal boxes, paper tubes such as toilet paper or paper towel tubes)
- Cardboard (remove all materials from cardboard boxes and properly discard, break down and flatten)
For a full list of items recyclable on campus, browse this “what to do with” list. For questions about recycling locations near your residence hall, ask your resident assistant.