Recycling and Waste Reduction

Goal: Increase Tri-C’s waste diversion rate to 50% by 2025.

Curious about what should go into the blue mixed recycling bins around Tri-C? Check out Tri-C's mixed recycling guidelines.

Do you ever wonder how mixed recycling collected around Tri-C gets sorted? See what happens with Tri-C's mixed recycling.

For more information about recycling in Cuyahoga County, visit the Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District website and enter a material you'd like to know more about in the "What Do I Do With?" search box. More details about recycling plastics around Cleveland can be found here, and helpful videos are available on the Solid Waste District's YouTube channel.

Click here for a good summary of the challenges of recycling different plastics. This summary is from St. Paul, MN, but is relevant in most locations.

Help Tri-C recycle more by being conscientious about recycling. With mixed recycling collection, it’s never been easier – all recyclables can go together in a single bin! Beyond recycling being easy, below are some great reasons to recycle:

• Recycling saves money on waste disposal and helps keeps tuition low
• Recycling keeps your campus, community, and workplace clean
• Recycling saves resources & energy
• Recycling creates jobs – according to the Ohio department of Natural Resources over 100,000 jobs in Ohio are dependent upon recycling

Progress to date:

Recycling

• Tri-C’s mixed recycling program (also known as “single-stream” or “fully commingled” recycling) allows paper, cardboard, bottles, and cans to all be recycled together in a single bin. Recyclable materials are hauled to a materials recovery facility (MRF) where they are sorted into individual commodities for recycling.
  • Tri-C Mixed Recycling guidelines
  • Tri-C Recycling FAQ
• Scrap metal, pallets, electronic waste, light bulbs, and other materials are recycled by operations staff.
• 38% diversion rate in the 2015-16 academic year, with over 300 tons recycled or diverted from the landfill.  

Composting

• At the Eastern Campus, the Culinary Arts program has teamed up with the Plant Science and Landscape Technology program to compost fruit and vegetable prep waste on site. The Plant Science program uses the finished compost for projects in their classes.
• Kitchen waste from the Hospitality Management Center, Eastern Campus cafeteria, and Corporate College East is composted in partnership with Rust Belt Riders Composting.

Fun facts about recycling:

• Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to power a TV for 3 hours and uses 95% less energy to make a new can than it would take to make a new can from raw materials.
• Recycling one plastic bottle saves enough energy to power a 60-watt light bulb for 3 hours, and recycled plastic bottles can be made back into bottles or into carpet or clothing.
• Paper is made from trees and every ton of paper recycled saves 17 trees!