What happens to the recyclable material once it leaves Marshall’s campus?
Marshall University’s Recycling Program picks up recycling from numerous locations all over the Huntington campus. When the recycling is picked up, it is taken to a recycle only compactor located between Harris Hall and the Science Building. Each resident hall and building has a designated recycle drop off spot; it is collected by student employees and taken here. When the compactor reaches capacity, approximately 10 tons, it is hauled to a recycle processing plant.
Where does the recyclable material go when it leaves Marshall’s Huntington campus?
When the recycling leaves Marshall’s campus, it is taken to a Rumpke processing plant in Portsmouth, OH. The material is presorted. Cardboard is sorted, baled, and shipped to Temple Inland in Maysville, KY. Trash is pulled and sent to the Wellston, OH landfill. Fiber products, aluminum, plastic, and steel are baled together and sent to the Columbus, OH single-stream processing plant.
Where does the material go when it leaves the Rumpke’s Portsmouth, OH processing plant?
Cardboard:
Temple-Inland located in Maysville, KY
Cardboard is used to manufacture corrugated packaging.
Fiber products, aluminum, plastic, and steel:
Rumpke Recycling located in Columbus, OH
The Columbus, OH single-stream processing plant uses both machinery and people to sort material as it goes down the conveyor belt. Sorting takes place to minimize trash mixed in with the recyclable material. The plastic bottles are sorted into plastic #1: Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), plastic #2: High Density Polyethylene (HDPE), and plastics #3 through #7. You can check out EPA.gov for a comprehensive list of plastics #3 through #7, their composition, and resulting manufactured product. The aluminum and steel are then separated. A video of the single-stream recycling process can be found at the Rumpke Recycling website listed above.
Trash
Rumpke located in Wellston, OH
The trash is put in the Beech Hollow landfill.
Where does the recyclable material go when it leaves Rumpke’s Columbus processing plant?
Aluminum
Anheuser Busch located in Louisville, KY
Aluminum is used to manufacture cans. According to Anheuser Busch’s website, they “recycled 99.4% of the solid waste generated in the brewing and packaging of their beers.”
Fiber
Newark Recycled Fibers located in Franklin, OH
Fiber is used to manufacture paperboard. For example, cereal and shoe boxes are made from paperboard.
HDPE
Haviland Drainage Products located in Haviland, OH
Plastic #2 is used to manufacture drainage products including sewer and drain pipes and corrugate tubing.
PET
Signode located in Florence, KY
Plastic #1 is used to manufacture plastic strapping.
Steel
I. H. Schlezinger, Inc. located in Columbus, OH
Steel is sold to Schlezinger’s. They sort and sell the steel to back into the steel industry.
Why can’t we recycle glass?
Glass is a recyclable material. However, due to the small size of the Portsmouth, OH sorting plant, glass becomes a liability. The space is too small to properly move and sort the glass. The employee’s safety becomes an issue. However, the Sustainability Department is in the process of getting a glass crusher to allow for the recycling of glass.