Waste Reduction & Recycling
With the population and diverse infrastructure of a mid-size city, the daily operations of NC State have a major impact on the surrounding environment. Waste Reduction & Recycling is the campus entity that promotes waste reduction, re-use, recycling and composting, as well as environmental education and outreach. With the help of the campus community, this office works to keep useful, recyclable materials out of the landfill and get them into the hands of local reuse and recycling markets. These endeavors not only decrease the amount of material disposed of in local landfills, they also save the university landfill disposal costs and support the local economy by supplying them with useful commodities.
Executive Order 156 directs state agencies and universities to reduce solid waste as well as to procure environmentally preferable products and work towards sustainability. NC State has surpassed the Executive Order 156 goal of diverting 40 percent of our solid waste stream from the landfill through reuse and recycling programs. However, these efforts don’t negate the fact that the University disposes of hundreds of tons of waste each year. It is therefore necessary to continue finding new and innovative ways to reduce, re-use and recycle on campus.
Another component of our waste stream is hazardous waste which is handled by the NC State Environmental, Health & Safety Hazardous Waste.
NC State University Recycling Initiatives: |