Recycling @ Union

Recycling FAQ

Union has begun a campus-wide recycling program! Below are some Frequently Asked Questions about our exciting program!

1. What does Union recycle?
2. How do I recycle as a faculty/staff member?
3. How do students recycle?
4. Tell me more about what can be recycled?
5. Do I have to remove labels from my plastic cans? Is rinsing needed?
6. What happens next?
7. Will we make money from recycling?
8. Who is assisting us with this?
9. Can Union handle my home recycling?
10. Whom can I contact with questions or ideas?

1. What does Union recycle?

• Paper
• Aluminum (empty cans!)
• Plastic soda bottles (empty, please!) and packaging like plastic grocery bags. Anything plastic with a 1 or 2 on the bottom
• Cardboard (There will be limited cardboard recycling bins outside the Lexington Inn and Lifeway)

2. How do I recycle as a faculty/staff member?

Every faculty and staff member has two bins near their desk.

A non-blue trash bin for your trash, and a 28 quart blue recycle bin for your items to be recycled (paper/aluminum/plastic).

Periodically, you (or someone from your office, perhaps a student worker) will bring your blue recycle bin to a 50 gallon rolling bin on your floor.

One floor bin will be for paper, the other for plastic and aluminum combined. (The Recycling Coordinator will separate these items out before it goes into the baler.)

We do not have the housekeeping personnel to collect recycling from each individual office and desk, therefore we are asking for your help to develop a system to get your items to the nearest recycling rolling bin on your floor.

3. How will students recycle?

Residential students are given recycle plastic bags for their rooms. One bag will be used for weekly paper, and one will be used for plastic and clean shrink wrap and aluminum (combined.) Each Monday morning, students will place the bags outside their doorway before 10:00 a.m. The Recycling Coordinator will come by and grab the bags. (The bags we use will be recycled, so please use new bags each week.) Upstairs residents will need to bring their bags down to the bottom stairwell.

4. Tell me more about what can be recycled?

• Paper: A selective mixture of papers typically generated in offices, comprised primarily of white ledger but including colored ledger, carbonless forms, regular and window envelopes. Unacceptable paper types typically include plastic-coated papers such as frozen food packages and paper towels/tissue, boxboard, cardboard, newspapers, magazines, coated playing cards and catalogs.
• Soft plastic: All items with a triangle with a number 1 and 2 on them. This includes Plastic Bottles, cooking oil bottles, peanut butter jars, detergent bottles and milk jugs. Plastic bags from Walmart/Kroger are also acceptable as well as clean shrink and plastic wrap. (For you chemistry majors, we are looking for PETE and HDPE, high-density polyethylene!) For those of you who don't buy your music from ITunes, CD jewel cases can be recycled as well.
• Aluminum Cans: (Please be sure to drain them completely.)
• Cardboard: in bins outside of Lifeway and the Lexington Inn.
• Bottom line: When in doubt, don't recycle it because you don't want to risk contamination!. We account for some contamination, but we need to keep the percent very low (below 5%). Stated differently, if it's gross with food on it, or if you are in doubt please trash it (don't recycle it!)

If you have a question about it, don't hesitate to contact Dr. Kimberly Thornbury at kthornbu@uu.edu or 731.661.5090 and she will research it for you!

5. Do I have to remove labels from my plastic bottles? Is rinsing needed?

Please remove lables if you can easily remove them. All bottles should be emptied. You don't need to rince them. Just empty them completely.

6. What happens next?

The Recycling Coordinator will collect Union's items and bring them to a bin near Facilities.

The items in the bin will then be baled by our new baler and sold. We need a baler because we get a better price for density and items that have low contamination (like food or other waste in them.)

7. Will we make money from recycling?

The money we make for recycling will cover the costs of the bins and our added personnel.

8. Who is assisting us with this?

We are partnering with Doxicom (www.doxicom.com). We have also appointed a Recycling Coordinator who will be in charge of the collection and baling of our recycling!

9. Can Union handle my home recycling?

Yes! Please bring your paper, soft plastic, and aluminim to the bins near the baler located next to the facilities shed. Cardboard can go to the specific bin in the back of LifeWay or the Lexington Inn. We can't provide money for your recycling, but we can recycle it for you and your family! Once we get the system well-oiled and working smoothly, we will open this for the community. We will let you know when we open it up for the community (probably in the spring.)

10. Whom can I contact with questions or ideas?

Please feel to contact Kimberly Thornbury at kthornbu@uu.edu or 731.661.5090 or Gary Carter at gcarter@uu.edu 731.661.5204.