Coastal Carolina Community College

Year Submitted: 2007

Process: Food Rendering/Dining

Industry: Educational Institution

Wastes Reduced: Polystyrene

Location: Jacksonville NC

Contact: John Sharp

Phone: (910) 938-6242

Description:

Coastal Carolina Community College provides a range of educational classes to citizens in the Jacksonville area. The college began implementing a recycling program in 1993 in response to student demands for more environmentally friendly campus operating practices. Since that time, an extensive range of recycling programs have been adopted at the campus.

P2 Application:

Polystyrene Recycling The programs inception occurred in 1993 when students requested the cafeteria switch from polystyrene food containers to paper. After a recycling operation was found, a committee of students, administrators, and cafeteria management voted to continue to use polystyrene as long as the containers were recycled and kept out of the waste stream. The college established separate collection receptacles throughout eating areas to collect the containers. The vendor supplied the college with a bailer to compact and bail the material for recycling. Coastal Carolina Community College became the first state institution to recycle polystyrene and one of only a few in the nation.
Additional Recycling

• Under Governor Hunts mandatory solid waste reduction goals, the college established a Solid Waste Reduction Committee headed by a recycling coordinator.
• To date, the college has established over twenty two Reduce-Reuse-Recycle programs including recycling of paper, metals, and plastics; composting of organic materials and yard waste; and recycling motor oil and tires from the auto body shop training areas.
• The college has purchased outdoor furniture made from the recycled plastic material they collect.

• Comments: Coastal Carolina Community College was recognized for Significant Achievement in the Government Category of the 1996 Governors Award for Excellence in Waste Reduction competition.

Details of Reductions

• Solid Waste
  Comments: From 1993 through 1997, the college estimates that recycling activities resulted in savings of over $150,000 in income, avoided landfill fees, and reduced consumption.

Additional Information :

The net result of all the programs has been a 70% reduction in the colleges solid waste stream. In fact, the college recycles more material than it sends to the landfill. In 1996, the college diverted over sixty tons of material from the landfill through recycling or composting programs.