Contact: Sammy McDavid
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Mississippi State officials are reporting that more than 75,000 pounds of material were collected during the university's fall recycling trial program.
The nine-week effort ended Dec. 13. It began with the random assignment of 27 campus buildings to three local recycling companies: Triangle Maintenance, Starkville Recycling and Mississippi Industrial Waste Disposal.
The companies were responsible for educating and implementing programs, documenting their efforts and reporting collections.
The final tally added up to more than 33,000 pounds of cardboard, 22,400 pounds of paper, 3,700 pounds of plastic, and 3,100 pounds of aluminum and metal. Additionally, there was a ton of glass and 50 printer cartridges.
"The trial program gave these companies an opportunity to showcase their abilities and to showcase the realities of campus recycling," said Jeremiah Dumas, director of the MSU Environmental Collaborative Office (www.eco.msstate.edu).
Having provided marketing opportunities for participating firms and served to gauge the interest level of recycling on campus, the program now is being evaluated for potential cost savings to the nearly 132-year-old land-grant institution, Dumas said.
MSU also is working toward a comprehensive recycling request for proposals. The trial findings and feedback are being used to develop the RFP, which basically is an invitation for businesses to submit formal service proposals, he explained.
"The results indicate the university community is eager to participate in recycling," Dumas said. "We have momentum to launch an environmentally and economically sound campus-wide program, and we anticipate moving forward with it in the near future."