MSU Surplus Store & Recycling Center FAQ's

Where it’s located:

On nine acres off Recycling Road, along the west side of Farm Lane, north of the CSX railroad in the Service District. The facility is assessable from both Service Road and Farm Lane Road.

How much it cost:

The building cost $13.3 million and will pay for itself in 12 years. Revenues from recycled material, MSU Surplus Store, and MSU Surplus Store Storage Services were used to pay for the new center (not tuition dollars).

How big it is:

The new facility is roughly 73,000 square feet and home to the Recycling offices, the Surplus Store, an Education Center, our new recycling sorting and baling area (the Materials Recovery Facility – MRF), as well as storage.

The building’s green construction:

Not only have we focused on sustainable practices in the past and look towards it for the future, but we also practiced sustainable practices while building the new facility. The site selection impacts the “greenness” of any planned facility. To reduce the environmental impact of building on undisturbed land, the MSU Surplus Store & Recycling Center was constructed on a formerly developed site consisting of up to 15-feet of fill soils placed over the course of the decades. Also, a portion of the site was a previous coal ash dumping ground. To ensure a suitable building site, nearly 800 aggregate piers were installed through the unsuitable soils remaining after the site was graded to its required elevations. Each pier consists of a 30-inch minimum diameter by up to 20-foot deep hole filled with compacted stone. Conventional construction activities produce large amounts of waste that typically end up in landfills. However, much of the waste can be reused or recycled. During construction, contractors diverted more than 80% of its construction waste and debris from being sent to the landfill by collecting and recycling waste generated throughout the building process. Also, all of the building and construction materials were extracted and manufactured within 500 miles of the site.

What it includes:

The new facility is home to a lot of new additions as well as all of the old departments. The MSU Surplus Store & Recycling Center are under one roof, now with more storage, an Education Center, and a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), which sorts and bales all of MSU’s recyclables. Outside is a public drop-off area available to MSU students and staff as well as exterior storage.

What is a Material Recovery Facility (MRF):

Our most prized new feature is the sorting line and baler in the MRF. The new facility has a maximum capacity of 5,500 tons a year, allowing us plenty of room to meet our goal. The recycling area has three large tipping areas where the big trucks pull in to dump materials such as paper and cardboard. There are also four smaller doors for inbound and outbound materials, such as #1 and #2 plastics. Two conveyors direct recyclable material either up to the sorting line, where employees hand-sort materials into chutes leading to bunkers of separated and organized materials, or straight to the baler. The wire baler has two RAMs, with 3,500 pounds of pressure, and creates 1,300-2,000 pound bales.

What baling our own materials means:

We have chosen to bale our own recyclables because baled materials sell for a higher price than non-baled materials, creating more money for MSU. This new sorting and baling addition is beneficial because it gives the University a way to reduce its waste and be environmentally responsible, as well as the fact that it’s a huge improvement and a financially sound investment.

The new facility’s goals:

We currently divert 1,800 tons a year from the landfills (approximately 16%), but our goal is to increase the capture rate of materials to 3,200 tons or year, or 30% by 2015.

Also, we are applying for Silver status of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)-certification.