ETSU Recycles

ETSU Recycling

ETSU Recycling has been working to ensure that the University community is able to recycle efficiently and effectively for over 20 years! Efforts were started by a group of students who were interested in recycling aluminum cans and paper. This arrangement continued until 2008 when a formal recycling program was developed and our first Recycling Coordinator was hired.

As a division of Facilities Services, ETSU Recycling partners and supports campus sustainability initiatives by diverting as much recyclable material as possible from our waste stream. Currently the campus recycles over 500,000 pounds of material annually and efforts are being made each year to increase this number.                                                   

ETSU Recycling in partnership with the Department of Sustainability have worked hard to distribute recycling containers in every East Tennessee State University building and across campus for your convenience. However, if you know of a spot that could use a container, email brookstn2@etsu.edu or call the Recycling Center at 423-439-7766.

If your residence hall, or ETSU-owned apartment complex does not have adequate recycling, please contact the ETSU Recycling Center.

Requests: If you need recycling bins delivered to you for an event or if a bin needs to be emptied, please click here to submit a work order.

Recycling Center

Did you know that ETSU has its very own Recycling Center? In 2009, the first official ETSU Recycling Center was built and ETSU expanded the program to include more items and increase its diversion tactics, increasing the University’s overall diversion rate. To accommodate for the increased recycling demand, a new center was built behind Buc Ridge Apartments in 2016, where recycling efforts operate today. The ETSU Recycling  Center is located behind Buc Ridge apartments, next to Central Receiving. To easily find the facility, use the address 325 Treasure Lane, Johnson City, TN 37614.

Along with being the location of collection for the campuses recycling, the Center is open to the public 24/7 and operates as a self-service system. All recyclable material must be sorted according to the labels/signs on each recycling bin.

Recycling Center staff are responsible for all the recycling bins you see around campus along with hand-sorting our recyclables so they end up in the correct stream. With this in mind, please be sure that you empty your containers before you recycle them!

If you have a large amount of recyclable material (i.e from an office cleanup or move), submit a workorder here or call the Recycling Center at 423-439-7329 and arrangements can be made to provide you with additional containers and/or a pickup.

If your office, department, or organization wants to coordinate a special waste diversion event (e.g. recycling drive, office cleanout day, etc.) please contact the Department of Sustainability and we will work with ETSU Recycling to help provide collection bins and coordinate special pickup arrangements.

How to Recycle on Campus

• What Can I Recycle?

  • Aluminum Cans
  • Plastics (#1 & 2 ONLY)
  • Cardboard (flattened)
  • CLEAN Pizza Boxes
  • Paper
  • Paperboard (cereal/food boxes, paper towel rolls, shoe boxes)
  • Newspaper
  • Books
  • Mail
  • Metal Cans (tin and steel)
  • Magazine 
• What Can’t I Recycle?

  • Plastics #3-7
  • Plastic Bags and Films
  • Styrofoam
  • Plastic To-go Containers
  • Used Napkins & Paper Towels
  • Items with Food Residue
  • Saran Wrap
  • Mirrors
  • Tissues
  • Plastic Straws
  • Foil Packaging
  • Food Wrappers
  • Shredded Paper
• Specialty Items (must be taken to the Recycling Center)

  • Glass
    • Bottles,
    • Jugs
    • Jars
  • Toner & Ink Cartridges
  • Batteries
    
    • Dry Cell
    • Lead Acid
  • Scrap Metal
  • E-Waste (ETSU e-waste only)
    • Cell Phones
    • Thumb Drives
    • Printers
    • Computers
  • Bulbs & Ballasts
• What Else Does ETSU Recycle?

  • Cooking/Fryer Oil (Dining Services)
  • Hazardous Waste and Chemical - Contact the Office of Environmental Health and Safety to schedule a pick up
  • Leaf Litter (Grounds Department)

  
  
  
• What do the Outside Bin Colors Mean?

  Red Bin: Paper & Paperboard (Mixed Paper)

  Blue Bin: Plastic and Cans

  For Cardboard: Please breakdown and place beside the bins, if there is not a designated cardboard bin.

  
  
  
• Where to Recycle on Campus?

  Academic, Administrative & Other Buildings

   

  Hallways and most common areas consist of the centralized triple bin systems.

  Individual offices should be equipped with a mini-bin for deskside recycling. To request a mini-bin, email gogreen@etsu.edu

  Most buildings will have mixed paper, and plastic and cans bins located outside of the building.

  Some buildings will have Cardboard Mini-Cycler recycling bins. If your building does not have a cardboard mini-cycler, please breakdown your cardboard and place behind your rolling bins.

   

  Residence Halls

  Most common areas and/or hallways will consist of the centralized triple bin systems.

  At the beginning of each semester, each room is provided with recycling bins for students to use. Bins should be taken to centralized bins or outside bins and sorted properly by residences. If you do not have bins in your dorms, please contact ETSU Recycling at gogreen@etsu.edu. 

  Located outside most Residence Halls are roll bins for Plastic & Cans and Mixed Paper.

  Cardboard Mini-Cycler recycling bins can be found at the following residence halls:

  • Centennial
  • Governors
  • Lucille Clement

  Cardboard Recycling Bins

  There are several large outdoor cardboard recycling roll-off receptacles and mini-cycler bins located around campus. All of these bins are labeled CARDBOARD ONLY. If you use these, we ask that you make sure you are recycling correctly. This means flattening your boxes and making sure they are empty before placing in the dumpsters.

  Locations for large cardboard roll-offs:

  • Sherrod Library
  • DP Culp Student Center – Dining Hall Loading Dock
  • VA Building 178
  • Central Receiving
  • Millennium Center
  • Johnson City Community Health Center
  • Lower Buc Ridge
  • Upper Buc Ridge
  • ETSU Recycling Center

  
  Locations for mini-cycler bins:

  • Nicks HallSubway
  • Post Office
  • Ross Hall
  • The Treehouse
  • Warf-Pickel
  • Continuing Studies (902 W Maple)
  • Mathes Hall
  • Innovation Lab
     

  
  
  

• Off-Campus Resources?

  • Hoffman Composting (Hoffman Composting - Johnson City, TN - Contact Me - Hoffman Composting) – Join into Hoffman’s Composting residential pick-up program. They provide a 5-gallon bucket with liners and weekly collection from your home for a monthly fee.
     
  • Johnson City Recycling (Recycling (johnsoncitytn.org)) – If you live within Johnson City limits you can participate in their voluntary, curbside recycling program that includes a recycling bin. Or if you live outside of Johnson City curbside limits, you can drop off your recycling at one of their five self-service site locations.

  
  
  

• Recycling Signage

  The Department of Sustainability developed University-wide signage to encourage waste reduction and contamination across ETSU's campus. Signage has been placed on all common area bins. If your office would like to post signage, please download these signs to hang in waste areas or post on bins. 

  

  

  

   

IMPORTANT REMINDERS:

• All recyclables should be empty, clean, and dry. Items that are wet or have food residue should be thrown in the landfill bin unless you can empty, clean, and dry them. Recycling Center staff hand sorts recycling, and
• Do not bag recyclables. Place recyclables loosely into the bins to increase efficiency of the recycling process. Placing items in bags slows down the recycling process.
• Plastic Recycling. The ONLY plastics currently accepted for recycling at ETSU are those numbered 1 or 2. With this in mind, please look to see what number plastic it is before throwing it into the recycling bins! Numbers are typically found on the bottom of products.
• WE DO NOT ACCEPT PLASTIC FILM AND BAGS. Food City and some other local grocery stores have plastic bag recycling bins.
• When in Doubt, Throw it Out. If you are unsure if an item is recyclable, do not place it in recycling bins. It is safer to throw it away. IF there is a high contamination rate (too many non-recyclables in your bin), then the entire bin of recyclables can make the items non-recyclable, especially if there is food and liquid.
  
  
  

Bins on Campus

There are a variety of bins that can be found around campus.