MSU’s Recycling Program Enters Its 3rd Year

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STARKVILLE- Miss. (WCBI) – Mississippi State University is doing its part to help the environment. The university’s recycling program is entering the successful third year.

It’s as simple as one, two three….

Since 2010, MSU has worked every year to make recycling easy and accessible.
Blue bins are now in the corners of classrooms, offices…even the Colvard Student Union.

“For several years we had paper only recycling program and so it’s been a great success to see, going from a single stream and we used to average somewhere around 20 thousand pounds a month, now were averaging somewhere around 60 thousand pounds a month so we’ve seen great strides not only in the tonnage but the ability to manage our recycle types of material,” said Jeremiah Dumas, Director of Substainability.

It’s changed how many feel about trash and it’s a movement MSU’s faculty members say students are using to their advantage. One Landscape Architecture professor says his students now recycle more of their unused materials.

“I think it’s an awareness issue probably more than anything else, were able to show our students that it’s something that needs to be considered when they make decisions, small decisions even like that,” said Tim Schauwecker, Landscape Architecture Professor.

Recycling is something more and more people around campus are starting to become aware of, it only takes 2 seconds to through a piece of paper in the recycle bin.

“I think it’s really good, we need to save our resources, we only have so many. A lot of the people here don’t really care too much about the environment but I’m one of the few people,” said student Zach Light.

MSU recycles paper, plastics, cardboard, metals and aluminum. The next step is to find a way to compound food waste.

The university also has programs that address electronic waste and hazardous materials recycling.