Recycling Services

In an effort to support other university sustainability initiatives, Recycling Services strives to divert as much recyclable material as possible from our waste stream. As a division of Facilities Services, our program has expanded tremendously in scope and capacity, now recycling well over one million pounds of material annually. Recycling Services focuses on collection of paper, commingled drink containers, wood, metals, and corrugated cardboard. Other departments at ECU recycle automotive fluids, batteries, cooking grease, electronics, and ink cartridges. The university is committed to sustainability, and encourages the campus community to recycle as much as possible.

In addition to the staff above, it is important to thank the most important members of the recycling community… YOU. Recycling is not only important for the environment, but it is also much more cost effective than waste removal. Items that are recycled avoid tipping costs, and actually bring revenues back to the university. Please recycle as much as possible when on campus, and in your local community when off-campus.

Contact Information

Charles Suggs
Recycling and Waste Reduction Coordinator
Interim Moving Services Supervisor
Facilities Services
Grounds Services

East Carolina University
Main Campus Grounds Complex
Greenville, NC 27858

Recycling Phone: 252-328-2892
Moving Services Phone: 252-328-6080
recycle@ecu.edu

Centralized Collection

Centralized collection is important to the success of recycling at ECU. Thousands of bins are located throughout the university, placed as conveniently as possible inside each building. Recyclable materials are most recoverable and marketable when placed in their proper containers. Please refer to the chart below for tips on how to recycle.

ECU Recyclable Materials Sorting Chart

Recycle		Notes
Mixed Paper	Includes: Office paper, bagged shredded paper, newspaper, envelopes with plastic windows, etc.	Please no magazines, glossy paper, cups, food wraps, Styrofoam, or trash. Staples and paper clips are ok. No binder clips or A-clips. No spiral-bound notebooks or 3-ring binders.
Cans & Plastic	Includes: Metal cans, plastic bottles, tubs, jugs, and jars.	Please empty and rinse before recycling. No glass.
Cardboard Boxes	Includes: Cardboard boxes and other cardboard materials.	No Styrofoam packaging materials, wax/coated or food- contaminated cardboard in this category. Housekeeping will place beside nearest dumpster for pick-up.
Scrap Metal and Wood	Includes: All scrap metal, wood, and wood pallets.	No Styrofoam, metal crate straps, or heavy duty plastic wrap in this category. No plywood, painted, or salt-treated wood.
Batteries	Includes: All batteries.	Faculty and staff may contact safety@ecu.edu for pick-up.
Ink/Toner cartridges	Includes: All print or toner cartridges.	Faculty and staff can give used cartridges to Office Depot or Staples delivery representatives.

View printable chart (PDF)

Special Event Recycling:

Special event recycling is a key component of Recycling Services’ program. Look for our blue commingled bins at Barefoot on the Mall, football and baseball games, Earth Day, and other large on-campus events.

Annual Events

Move-in-Weekend
Each Fall, as thousands of students return to campus, Grounds Services assists in recovering cardboard during Move-in-Weekend. Tens of thousands of pounds of cardboard are recycled each year during this period of time.

Give-N-Go
Thanks to Volunteer Services and Campus Living, ECU is able to help student residents donate their used items as they move out. Collection points are placed near each residence hall lobby, where household items, clothing, and food can be donated. This event helps local charities and greatly reduces waste.

Books for Africa
Hardback books are recovered throughout the academic year. Fortunately, most of these books can be donated. Thanks to this invaluable organization, we are able to assist in attempting to end the book famine in Africa.

Campus Race to Zero Waste
Campus Living and Campus Dining are instrumental in supporting Campus Race to Zero Waste each year. Campus Race to Zero Waste is a friendly competition and bench marking tool for college and university recycling programs to promote waste reduction activities to their campus communities.

Residence Hall Collection:

Recycling bins are available throughout each residence hall on campus. Large blue bins for commingled drink containers are located in each floor’s trash room. Mixed Paper bins are located in each lobby, or the nearest residence hall computer lab. Students have two options for recycling cardboard boxes: (1) flatten the box and put it in the cardboard container inside your nearest neighborhood Service Center in West End Dining Hall or Ballard (East) Hall or (2) flatten the box and place it next to the dumpster outside your residence hall. Housekeeping Services places the commingled material outside, where it can be removed by Recycling Services.

Commingled Drink Container Collection:

In addition to the metal drink container bins located throughout campus, large green and white containers have been placed at each Campus Dining location. When full, Campus Dining empties these containers, and places the material outside, where it can be removed by Recycling Services.

Recently, additional commingled bins have been placed outside, in some of ECU’s highest traffic areas. These large metal containers have been refurbished. Old, damaged garbage cans were removed from campus, and painted purple. New lids and signage were added. As a result, we now have sturdy, long lasting outside bins, at a minimal cost. Additional bins will be placed throughout the university, as our program expands.

Additional Services for Staff and Faculty:

Office Clean-outs
Recycling Services can provide barrels for office clean-outs. Paper from these clean-outs provides a substantial percentage of our collection. Please call 252-328-6096 for more information.

Shredded Paper
Although Recycling Services doesn’t shred paper, shredded paper can be picked up from your area. Please bag and consolidate the material, and call 252-328-6096 for pick-up.

Hardback Books
Recycling Services can pick up hardback books. Books will be donated or recycled. Please call 252-328-6096 for pick-up.

Donation Drives:

Donating unwanted items such as clothes or non-perishable foods is a great way to reduce waste. Also, shopping at thrift stores and purchasing used, refurbished, or salvaged items is another way to reduce waste. Please consider donating unwanted items to the follow resources on campus:

Williams-Ross Purple Pantry – The mission of the ECU Purple Pantry is to decrease food insecurity among the students of East Carolina University and increase access to other personal care items. Since opening in the late spring of 2018, students have been able to collect their most needed food and hygiene items from the Pantry, which is located in the Main Campus Student Center (MCSC) Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement (CLCE) Suite 208.
Pirate Swap Student Organization –
Professionally Purple Closet – Located in the River’s Building Room 143 and open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1-4:30pm, this service offers a comprehensive selection of professional clothing to all ECU students who are preparing for interviews, internships, field placements, or any other career-related engagements.

Composting:

ECU has been composting pre-consumer food waste from both Todd Dining Hall and West End Dining Hall since 2023.

Beginning as a course project by students in the Miller School of Entrepreneurship in 2019, the pilot project was a huge success until Covid hit and shutdown the dining halls in spring 2020. We decided to restart the pilot project in 2022 with two student interns and a box truck. This effort eventually resulted in an alumnus, Caitlin Cummins, establishing a limited liability corporation (LLC) called Terra Bella Compost. Terra Bella now collects weekly during the regular school year from each of our dining halls. Materials collected from the kitchen include: egg shells, coffee grounds, as well as fruit and vegetable trimmings. Starting in fall 2025, we plan to pilot post-consumer food waste collection from the dishwashing room in Todd Dining Hall, which we anticipate will increase the amount of biodegradable waste by 3-4 times as much.

In addition to collecting food waste from the dining halls, there are also a couple of other compost bins stationed behind the Belk Annex Building for people in the Belk Building to compost food waste and we also collect weekly from behind the HSC Student Center because there is a kitchen lab class that cooks in that building on a weekly basis. Faculty and Staff can request a small compost pail from the ECU Sustainability Program and utilize these centralized compost collection bins at the Belk Complex and on Health Sciences Campus. We are also piloting food waste collection at small (under 50 attendees) events so please just send an email to sustain@ecu.edu to request a compost pail for your break room or collection bin for your event!

Bring Your Own:

: 1000’s of pounds of retail plastic bags are sent to the landfill each year from campus. Avoid single-use plastic bags by taking reusable bags when shopping. Remember clean and dry plastic bags can only be recycled at local grocery stores.

: 8 million metric tons of plastic enters our oceans every year. Examine what you landfill and recycle daily and analyze if there is a resuable option for what you are putting in the bin. Bring your own utensils to help save the planet!

: ECU and Greenville are located on the Tar River so every piece of litter, like straws, will end up in our waterways if not collected and everything floats downstream, evenutally reaching the Pamlico Sound and on out to the Atlantic Ocean where they become microplastics and get consumed by wildlife.

: 1000’s of pounds of drink containers and cups are sent to the landfill each year on campus. Help ECU avoid the waste and BRING YOUR OWN cup, coffee mug, or reusable water bottle.