Edgecombe Leadership Initiative 2

Recycling at Edgecombe Community College

by Francine Long

Why Recycle?

            Recycling is a big benefit to everyone.  It is not that hard to do and it takes a lot of what would be placed into landfills and reuses it.  This wonderful country of ours has become a country full of citizens that are consumers.  We consume more than any other country per capita.  One great way to decrease the impact we have on the world environment is by recycling.  Recycling not only decreases the landfills but also helps the environment by taking less away in the form of natural resources.  We should institute a Recycling Policy at Edgecombe Community College to help our environment and set an example for the citizens of our community.

             When we buy a product it takes natural resources to produce.  If that product is thrown away and another one is purchases in its place, again we use natural resources.  If we recycle the product, less is taken from the environment to produce another one.  Also the use of landfills is a problem.  What we are putting into these landfills is another very significant part.  Landfills are simply holes in the ground to which we shovel garbage and heap garbage.  As the garbage sits, the material decomposes; even plastic breaks down over time.  All of the chemicals and poisonous material used to produce the products sitting in the landfill all find their way into the ground.  Rainwater moves all of this material into our drinking water.  Please don’t take this to mean I believe you should drink bottled water.  Tap water is great; it is purified and tested.  All of the chemicals it takes to purify the water should also be taken into consideration.  It is all a cycle that we can help to make less harmful, simply by recycling.    

            If we can make recycling easy and convenient to the majority of those who come to our campus, they will gladly do it.  A little forethought and work by the college will make it part of everyday life.  So many other institutions have recycling in place; they can give us examples to follow and let us know what works and what doesn’t.

            In 1999 Governor James Hunt signed into policy Executive Order 156 (attached).  In part it states that “This Executive Order shall promote all state agencies to maximize their efforts to develop and implement environmentally sustainable policies and practices.”  It goes on to promote the responsibilities of each state agency including; designating an Environmental Sustainability Officer to direct the activities, seek to integrate into daily activity a reduction of solid and hazardous wastes, give all employees access to containers for recycling (at a minimum aluminum cans, office paper and corrugated cardboard), encourage and educate employee participation in waste reduction and recycling,   

            Governor Hunt did not expect state agencies to do all of this on their own.  In Executive Order 156 he designated the Division of Pollution Prevention and Environmental Assistance (DPPEA) of the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources to provide technical assistance, education and training to state agencies.  I spoke with and received email from Rachel Eckert of the DPPEA.  She was very helpful, and she is excited about recycling and helping us to set up a recycling program.  There is a lot of useful information at the DDPEA website at www.p2pays.org and www.re3.org (re3 = reduce, recycle, reuse).  These websites can help us find markets to recycle, grants for recycling projects, and numerous other helpful avenues. 

            Another wonderful organization that would assist ECC with recycling is the Collegiate Recyclers Coalition (CRC).  This is a council of the Carolina Recycling Association which promotes sustainable resource use through waste reduction, reuse and recycling on college campuses.  This organization spans colleges throughout North and South Carolina, and was started by a group of concerned collegiate recycling coordinators.  They have six meetings each year all over the Carolinas to educate and share ideas that promote recycling.   There homepage can be found at

http://www.cra-recycle.org/CRC/index.htm. 

What Are We Doing?

            At the present time ECC recycles white paper, sensitive paper and phone books.  Edgecombe County picks up all of our white paper for free and takes it to East Carolina Vocational Center Inc. (ECVC) in Greenville, NC.  ECVC is a commingled recyclables sorting center which raises money to provide job training and employment to people with disabilities. There is a 20 cubic yard container kept on campus that the county comes and empties when we notify them that it is full.  There are numerous smaller white paper recycle bins located all over the Tarboro campus.  In the Charles B. McIntyre (A Building) the white paper recycle bins are located in the copy room and in a room across from the business office labeled 162, the door is labeled CLASSROOM 153B.   In the Dr. Thomas S. Fleming (H Building) White paper recycle bins are located in each of the 4 computer labs 114, 115, 213, 214.  In the R.M. Fountain (B Building) the white paper recycling bin is located across from the kitchen area.  In the J.F. Havens (E Building) the white paper recycle bin is located in the closet just before the men’s restroom on the left as you approach computer lab 452.  In Building C the white paper recycling bin is located in the closet on the corner across from the library after the library entrance labeled MECHANICAL 27. 

            “Sensitive paper” is paper of any color that contains sensitive material, such as social security numbers and other personal information.  ECC has a contract with the “Shred-It” company out of Raleigh, NC.  They come and cross shred the paper on site every 4 weeks and within 48 hours it is delivered to a recycling site where 100% of the paper is recycled.  We have 3 90-gallon containers and 2 double bagger containers.  They charge $3.50 per minute to shred with a minimum of $52.  We produce approximately 600 lbs. a month.  Our bill is usually about $100 a month.  The Shred-It containers are located in many places on the Tarboro campus.  In the McIntyre Building the "Shred-It" bin is located in the copy room.  In the Dr. Thomas S. Fleming Building it is located just outside the kitchen.  In the Havens Building it is located in the closet just before the men’s restroom on the left as you approach computer lab 452.  In Building C it is located in the closet on the left as you enter the building in the room labeled MECHANICAL 38.

            The Rocky Mount and Tarboro campuses contribute to recycling phone books.  Usually a faculty member finds out about a group collecting phone books to be recycled and they are set aside for them.  A local parent whom resides close to the Rocky Mount campus will be collecting the phone books for her child’s school this year.  They are being stored in the copy room on the Rocky Mount campus on the book shelf.  They are being collected on the Tarboro campus in a box in the copy room of the McIntyre Building.  They are being transported periodically to the Rocky Mount campus.

            I was very excited when I decided to do recycling as my ELI project.  I know there could be so much done here at ECC.  I have tried to do as much as I can to educate faculty and staff about the recycling we presently do.  I have sent out emails advertising the locations of all of the White paper only and “Shred-It” bins.  Mary Tom Bass allowed me to add the locations to the Confab.  To do this, first I had to find them.  Not all of them were easily accessible.  One had a broken student chair in it and a few were hidden in closets.  I was given permission to and have placed signs to help people find the White paper only and “Shred-It” recycle bins across campus.

            There are 3 collection sites for aluminum cans.  There is a container in the student lounge in the McIntyre Building, one in the middle hall in the Havens Building, and one located just inside the entrance doors of building C.  These cans are collected and taken to the barn out in back of Fountain Building.  On occasion someone in the community comes by and picks them up for recycling.  There is no set schedule or collector for the cans.

            We have a waste removal contract with Waste Industries.  Currently they only collect garbage.  We have 5 garbage containers on the Tarboro campus; 3 that are 8 cubic yards and 2 that are 6 cubic yards.  The garbage is picked up once a week on Wednesday’s, and we pay $731.66 a month.  That is $170.54 for each 8 cubic yard container, and $110.02 for each 6 cubic yard container. 

What Should We Be Doing?

            We at ECC are not doing enough, not in terms of what Gov. Hunt expected of us from Executive Order 156 and not enough for our community.  We could be doing so much more.  There are many resources out there to assist us with recycling.  There are state agencies, waste companies, and the internet to name just a few.  We need to begin with a plan and a person to make recycling work.  I suggest that ECC takes on recycling like any other priority to our students and community.  What we are doing now is very outdated.  We update our campus in so many ways-technologies, buildings, equipment.  Why not waste removal?  The administration needs to believe in recycling and put a working plan into action.  Then it needs to be evaluated and improved, just like any other campus project.  Just a few changes would make drastic improvements in how we treat our environment and how the community views us and their environment. 

             First ECC needs to educate itself and faculty on recycling.  Rachel Eckert of the DPPEA would be more than happy to make an appointment to have a meeting with some key people on campus to get a plan in place.  It all begins there.

            Upon her recommendations and the conclusion of the meeting many things can take place.  I would suggest that there be an employee position added to the staff for the collection and distribution of recyclables.  For example; at Wilson Community College (WCC) they have a custodian who spends the first half of every day dedicated to collecting and storing recyclables.  On occasion this person delivers the recyclables to a recyclables sorting center.  The rest of their day is spent on regular custodial work.  Our custodians already do so much; they do collect recyclables and place them in the designated places.  More is needed; that is why I suggest an additional full- or part-time custodian.

            As with the free collection of paper that the county does, they will also collect cardboard.  We need to educate our employees so that enough cardboard is collected for the county to take it for free.  It would be similar to our white paper collection in that they would bring a 20 cubic yard container, but we would need to fill it up over a short period of time.  I believe we could do this with the amount of cardboard we get between semesters if we get the container a couple of weeks before the end of a semester and they come pick it up a couple of weeks after the beginning of the following semester.  All of the cardboard boxes would need to be broken down.  If everyone participates and no cardboard boxes are thrown out this option is advantageous.  It would take bulk out of our trash containers.

            Many recycling agencies will pay you to recycle.  At WCC they have made enough money recycling their cans and paper to purchase attractive recycling centers.  They place 3 recycling bins(cans, bottles and paper) at each entrance of each building next to the trash container, and place banners above the containers to make everyone award of the recycling containers’ location.  They also have some recycling containers spread throughout the buildings, again next to garbage containers.  To maximize recycling and minimize garbage they have reduced the number of trash containers so people will seek out a nearby recycling station instead of going straight for the garbage.  There is a poster in every classroom to remind people to recycle.  Each of the recycling container stations (3 containers) costs them approximately $100. 

            At WCC they have a garage storage area for all of the recyclables.  They store them and periodically deliver them to the recycling center.  On average they make $50 to $60 a ton for shredded office paper, $20 a ton for newspaper, $0.20 - $0.30 a pound for aluminum cans (fluctuates with market value).  We have a couple of barns out in back of the B building that could be used in part for storing recyclables.  The cans are being stored there now.  A company in Edgecombe County that pays to recycle aluminum cans is Wise Recycling. 

            Making the people that come to our campus aware of the recycling we would like them to participate in is most of the work.  There are many things we can do to accomplish this.  Putting up posters in the classroom and in frequently visited areas, adding a statement to every instructor’s syllabi, and asking instructors to speak directly to students at the beginning of each semester are a few examples of ways to get everyone involved.

            The company we contract our waste removal with now is Waste Industries.  Chris Williams, of Waste Industries, and I spoke of the ways that we can recycle with them.  For plastic and glass bottles, aluminum cans and white office paper we can get an easily mobile 2 cubic yard container.  This would cost ECC $20 a month to rent and $60 to pick up when it is full.  We notify them when our containers are full and need to be emptied.   We can recycle cardboard in an 8 cubic yard container.  Boxes must be broken down and slid into a slit cut container for $80 a month, cardboard is collected weekly.  This may sound like a lot of extra expense, but we are already paying them to take all of this material away in the trash.  We will have less trash and save money in our trash collecting.  If the amount of trash we place in our garbage containers decreases we could decrease the number of trash containers we have on campus.  By replacing one of the 8 cubic yard containers of trash ($170.54) with one of the cardboard containers ($80) and the a recycling containers ($20) we would have;

            Cardboard                               $80 / month

            Plastic/cans/glass                      $20 / month +

                                                            $100

One 8 cubic yard of trash $170.54 saves us      $170.54 - $100 = $70.54 to be spent on the pick up of the plastic/can/glass and paper ($60 each pick up).  If we go with Waste Industries it would be very convenient.  We would only need to place one recycle bin for the plastic, glass and cans on campus; they sort these items for us.  Considering all of the materials that would come out of the trash and go into recycling (those cardboard boxes take up a lot of room) we may even be able to save money by recycling.  This money could be used for the purchase of recycling containers. 

            I suggest ECC purchases recycle bins for plastic/glass/cans to be placed near trash cans at the entrances of every building.  We should also place these recycle bins in areas where many of these materials are thrown away.  Who would know better than the custodians?  Ask them which trash containers get most of the recycled material and place recycle bins next to them.  ECC should also purchase some white paper recycle bins for these recycling stations.  The white paper could be recycled for free as we do now.   Signs should be posted to advertise their placement, and posters should be placed in classrooms to show the college’s support of recycling.

            ECC should stop the use of on campus shredders unless the paper taken from them is to be recycled.  Presently the paper taken from on campus shredders, like the one in the copy room, is thrown away with the trash.  Paper to be shredded should be placed in the “Shred-It” bins.  These bins are secure and locked until the “Shred-It’ company comes once every 4 weeks to shred the paper, and recycle it.

                        Our community cannot stand to have more landfills.  We need to find ways to help keep our environment clean and safe.  We need to find ways to conserve our natural resources.  The answer to all of this is to recycle.  As an example for our community, we need to lead in this area.  We at ECC need to beautify our community and campus not only with wonderful grounds keeping, but also with recycling stations.  We at ECC need to educate our community and students not only on the global issues but also on local issues-our environment.  It is our environment, our landfills; it is local and in our community.  How can we expect our citizens to take care of the community if there isn’t a leading entity to show them the correct path for the future?  They look to us when they come on campus and they follow the behaviors that they encounter.  We need to lead our community into the future; we need to lead by example.  That example they follow should include recycling.