Recycling

Sorting is important. A 2019 study of UNC Charlotte trash bins showed that about 20% were items easily recycled — paper, cardboard, and containers. It also documented our mistakes and “wishcycling,” leading to a large amount of trash in campus recycling bins. The latter can lead to our shipments to the recycling facilities being rejected — sending more to the landfill and undoing all the good sorting work of our community.

Public areas and workspaces of campus support collection of many recyclable items, including paper, cardboard, and containers made from steel, aluminum, glass, paper, and plastic (#1 through #5). The Recycling website and the Waste Wizard provides information on what can and can’t be recycled. Campus standards require that all trash bins must have recycling bins. Those bins should have signs posted to help the user sort their materials properly.

Many units of campus are involved in handling materials that can be reused.

In some years, the largest source of solid waste is from construction and demolition. UNC Charlotte has policies to divert more than half of these materials from landfills. Items that are recycled include concrete, steel, aluminum, carpet, and insulation. In 2019, an 11-story dormitory was demolished with over 98% of the material being recycled.

Equipment, furniture, and other items that are state property are handled by Inventory Control & Surplus Property. They maintain a warehouse to help items find a new use on campus, or to sell items for reuse. A special category of hazardous waste they handle is electronics, sending unusable “e-waste” to a safe and secure recycling company. In general, hazardous waste questions should be directed to Environmental Health and Safety (EHS), who can advise on the possibility to reuse or recycle waste.

For campus residents, special efforts are made to collect reusable items throughout the year, but especially during the “move-out” season before spring graduation. Unwanted household items like lamps, stools, clothes, books, canned goods, and mirrors are donated to charities including the Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity and the Jamil Niner Student Pantry.

The Recycling team also leads our composting efforts. UNC Charlotte made early efforts to compost on campus in the 1990s. Then, Facilities Management collected food and yard waste from campus, put them in large vessels called Earth Tubs, and used the compost in landscaping projects. As the campus grew, the organic waste outgrew that local solution, and the campus turned to sending material to commercial composters.

In 2019, the university recorded sending its one-millionth pound of organic waste to composting. The main collection points on campus are the two major dining halls and the Grounds compound. Organic waste from other campus food outlets are routed to the dining halls. A waste audit in 2019 found that two of the largest components that we send to landfills are compostable: paper towels from bathrooms and food waste generated by “to-go” dining.