Keeping Carolina’s move-in trash out of the landfill

When students returned for the start of the fall semester in August, more than 8,000 students moved into University housing.

As students and their families unpacked carloads of clothes, bedding and supplies, a small team of Facilities Services and other Finance and Operations staff was waiting for them at residence hall dumpster stations to support the Office of Waste Reduction and Recycling’s Student Move-in program.

The move-in crews split into teams at residence halls across campus where they sorted through the contents of trash dumpsters. Using their grabbers, they pulled out cardboard, Styrofoam and other recyclables they found and moved them to the appropriate bins.

“Students and their families can be really stressed during this time, so they don’t always think about recycling,” said OWRR Waste Diversion Coordinator Amy Preble. “There’s a huge rush, everybody’s trying to get a lot done, they’re unpacking, and it’s just human nature to just stuff everything into a box and put it into the nearest receptacle that you see.”

Before the program began in the fall of 2001, trash dumpsters across campus would often become buried under huge piles of discarded boxes over the course of move-in weekend. The cardboard would then head to the landfill, where corrugated cardboard is banned, resulting in significant tip fines for the University.

The move-in teams were not just there to sort and recycle; they were also what Preble calls “Recycling Ambassadors.”

During the training sessions, she told staff, “You’re here to be that friendly face that stops them in their tracks, takes that box from their hands, and breaks it down and puts it in the cardboard dumpster for them.”

Through education, engagement and sorting, the move-in team diverted more than 20 tons of cardboard this year. The program has expanded over the years to include plastic wrap recycling in 2009 and Styrofoam collection in 2013. Since the start of the program in 2001, more than 322 tons of cardboard, polystyrene and plastic film have been recycled and kept out of landfills.

OWRR also hopes that seeing staff take the time to recycle will make a strong first impression on incoming students and will encourage them to continue the effort themselves on subsequent visits to dumpster stations and when they are out and about on campus. Launched in fall 2016, the University’s Three Zeros Environmental Initiative challenges the Carolina community to reduce its environmental impact through three sustainability goals: net-zero water usage, zero waste to landfills, and net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. Students are encouraged to limit the amount of waste they bring to campus, and to recycle and compost waste that leaves the campus.