FACILITIES POLICIES
AND PROCEDURES
NUMBER: 520
DISTRIBUTION: WCU Campus Community
ISSUED BY: Executive Director of Facilities Management
EFFECTIVE: February 1, 2008
SUBJECT: WCU Recycling Program
A. Purpose:
To provide for a University Recycling Program.
B. Overview:
In January 2008, the University’s Recycling Program was restructured to eliminate contamination of our recycled paper stream and take advantage of current commingled recycling methods. Under this new plan, Mixed Office Paper is collected from set locations such as containers besides desks or in copy rooms. For Commingled recyclables only one container is needed. These containers are located in hallways, office kitchens, or lounge areas. These items are collected throughout the building by custodians and brought to a single pickup point. The Recycling Staff then transports the recyclables from university buildings to campus compactors. The compacted contents are eventually hauled off-campus to recycling brokers.
C. Types of Recyclable Materials:
| Mixed Office Paper: | ||
Acceptable |
Not Permitted |
|
|---|---|---|
| Office Paper | Cardboard | |
| Glossy Paper | Air Freight envelopes | |
| File Folders | Restroom & Kitchen waste | |
| Manila folders | Hardcover books | |
| Envelopes | Metal or plastic binders | |
| Pamphlets | Waxed paper | |
| Magazines | Styrofoam packing materials | |
| Newspapers | Confidential paper | |
| Phone books | ||
| Catalogs | ||
| Commingled: | Acceptable |
Not
Permitted |
| Glass bottles and jars | Restroom and Kitchen waste | |
| Plastics #1 & 2 | Styrofoam packing materials | |
| Aluminum cans | ||
| Rinsed food cans | ||
| Cardboard: Includes cardboard packing boxes and hardcover books. Does not include nonpaper-based packing material like bubble wrap or Styrofoam. | ||
| Confidential Paper: Paper which contains personal or business-sensitive information. | ||
D. Responsibilities: All parties at the University have a role in the Recycling process, as follows:
1. Faculty, Staff, and Students: The University community should separate their recycled items and place them in the correct containers. Commingled material should be deposited in blue containers that are marked for this purpose. These containers are located in hallways, office kitchens, and/or lounge areas. Mixed Office Paper should be placed in recycled paper containers. These containers are located beside the desks of faculty and staff, in copy rooms, computer labs, and on each floor in the residence halls. Cardboard boxes should be flattened and left next to the blue paper recycling containers. Plastic wrapping and Styrofoam should first be removed from the boxes and discarded as trash. Please assist the recycling effort by not depositing rubbish of any sort in the blue recycling containers. Your assistance in notifying the Recycling Coordinator (x2512) of any recycling problems or abuses will be appreciated.
2. Custodial Staff: The Custodial staff is responsible for collecting the recycled paper from the blue containers at desks, in copy rooms, computer labs, and each floor of residence halls. This paper must be kept separate from trash. Then only the Mixed Office Paper is deposited in the large Toter located at central locations at each building. The Toter lid needs to be kept closed so that it does not become contaminated by passers-by. When the Toter becomes full, please inform your supervisor to notify Recycling Services to pick it up.
Discarded cardboard boxes left next to blue recycling containers should be flattened and stacked next to the large Toter (located in a central location at the building). Any plastic wrappings or styrofoam packing left in the boxes must be discarded as trash.
The Custodial staff will empty the blue Commingled containers and place bags of commingled material at the designated pickup location for that building. The pickup location typically is either by the Mixed Office Paper Toter or outside by the tan dumpster. [Note: Once aluminum cans are deposited in the blue containers in the hallways, they become the property of the University and cannot be removed for personal gain.]
2. Recycling
Staff: The Recycling Staff is
responsible for picking up the full Mixed Office Paper Toters from the campus buildings, leaving an empty Toter in
their place, transporting the Toters to the recycled
paper compactor box, and emptying them into the Mixed Office Paper compactor
box. Cardboard and hardcover books will
be deposited in the compactor box at
Moving Services will typically handle the collection of the locked Confidential Paper Toters used for confidential papers. Moving Services will bring these locked toters back to the Warehouse and secure them until their contents can be properly destroyed.
E. Recycling Procedures:
1. Two types of Recycling Containers will be distributed throughout the campus to accommodate the recycling needs of the campus:
a. A blue container for Commingled materials will be widely available on most floors of campus buildings (as well as in most classrooms) for the collection of commingled recycled items.
b. Small, blue Mixed Office Paper recycling containers will be provided beside the desk of faculty and staff for the recycling of paper. Larger containers for the collection of Mixed Office Paper will be provided in copy rooms and computer labs, and in the lobbies of each residence hall floor.
2. As in the past, faculty and staff are encouraged to source separate their office paper at their desks using the blue containers provided. Custodial staff will continue to pick up the recycled paper from residence hall floors, copy rooms, computer labs, and at each person’s desk—and keep it separate by depositing it in a special Toter at each building. Custodial staff will also collect Commingled materials from the classrooms and hallways of each building.
3. Mixed Office Paper will be collected by Custodial staff and consolidated into a 96-gallon Toter container. These containers will be situated near the loading dock or custodial rooms where they are out of the way of building occupants but accessible by the Custodial staff. These containers will be clearly labeled as paper recycling containers only. These containers will primarily be filled by the Custodial staff who will dump loose recycled paper into them.
4. When the 96-gallon Toter in a building is approaching being full, it will be picked up by the Recycling Staff who will leave an empty container in its place.
5. The Recycling Staff will transport the Toter containers of Mixed Office Paper to the Warehouse and empty them into the Recycled Paper compactor box. When the compactor box is full, it will be transported by a roll-off hauling company to a recycled paper broker for sale on the commodity market.
6. Campus departments with extra large volumes of recycled files and papers should contact Moving Services via a Work Request to have a special Toter provided to facilitate the clean-out process. Hardcover books can also be accommodated in a similar manner.
7. Cardboard boxes should be flattened and left next to the blue paper recycling
containers so that the custodians can pick them up. Plastic wrapping
and Styrofoam should first be removed from the boxes and discarded as trash. Cardboard boxes will be collected from the
office areas by the Custodial staff, who will stack
the flattened boxes next to the large Recycling Toter. The Recycling Staff will then pick up the
flattened corrugated cardboard and transport it to the compactor at the
8. Commingled recyclables (glass, #1 & 2 plastics, food cans, and aluminum cans) will continue to be collected from hallways and classrooms and bagged by the Custodial staff and left in a central place in each building to be picked up by the Recycling Staff. This material will be placed in the Commingled compactor box at the Warehouse, and eventually sent to a regional recycling center.
9. Confidential Paper will continue to picked up by Moving Services upon request from campus departments via a Work Request. This sensitive paper is securely stored until there is a sufficient amount to be run through a large shredder.