Charlotte’s Waste Wizard Helps In Campus Recycling
UNC Charlotte has offered recycling services since 1990, and waste reduction efforts have increased. But the success of campus recycling services starts with UNC Charlotte students, staff and faculty — and the Waste Wizard is there to help too.
Hosted on the new recycling website, the Waste Wizard is a search tool based on an item or material. Simply enter an item or material name into the search engine, and the Waste Wizard will show campus-based options for disposal. The University’s Waste Wizard only covers campus waste management capacities, so for those who live off campus, refer to the local waste management service for proper waste disposal information.
Waste Wizard instructions range from simple for the most common materials collected at hundreds of public recycling stations across campus to more detailed contacts and locations for materials that require special handling. Waste Wizard can tell what the University can do with properly sorted items (recycle, compost, donate, state surplus sales, re-use or trash to a landfill).
The Waste Wizard helps users avoid the mistake of “wishcycling,” when a user places items in a recycling bin that they wish the University could recycle, even though that service or industry is unavailable locally. Following the Waste Wizard’s recommendations will keep unwanted items out of recycling bins, to ensure the quality of materials the University sends to local recyclers, composters and businesses that reuse materials. This ultimately creates local jobs and a more sustainable economy.
“With our own campus Waste Wizard, we can make updates as we add recycling services to the campus and find local companies that can take materials, as we recently did with styrofoam recycling,” said Shannon Caveny-Cox, solid waste coordinator for the Office of Sustainability.