Sustainability

Recycling and Waste Reduction

Did you know that Towson generates approximately 4,500 tons of waste per year? That’s 397 pounds per person. Waste disposal and recycling at TU costs $377,000 each year. At TU, our goal is to reduce waste through prevention, reuse, composting and recycling, and increasing the amount of waste we divert from the landfill to 30 percent by 2015 and 100 percent in the long term. Download the TU Waste Inventory Report to learn more about waste reduction at Towson. See below for information regarding:

• Single Stream Recycling
• Electronics Recycling
• Battery Recycling
• Compact Fluorescent Light Bulb Recycling
• Printer Cartridge Recycling
• Special Recycling
• Donation of Reusable Items
• Composting
• Green Purchasing
• Hazardous Waste

Single Stream Recycling

Our single stream recycling program accepts all recyclables in one container. There are more than 3,500 single-stream recycling containers on campus. The recycling is collected by campus housekeeping staff and transported to area recycling facilities by the university's refuse and recycling materials hauler. Towson’s recycling guidelines are as below:

Download the Recycling at Towson poster. To obtain copies of these posters, contact gogreen@towson.edu.

• 24" x 24" PDF
• 11" x 17" PDF
• 7" x 10" PDF

Electronics Recycling

Students can recycle their personal electronics by placing them in the electronics recycling containers located in the lobby of every campus residence hall. All electronics—from computers to curling irons—can be placed in the containers. Before recycling, remove any batteries in the electronics and recycle them separately in the bins inside the residence hall community centers. For your safety, you should also wipe electronics of any data prior recycling them. When the bins are full, they will be picked up by campus housekeeping.

University equipment needs to be disposed of through Materiel Management. See their website for guidelines.

Download the Electronics Recycling at Towson Poster:

• 24" x 24" PDF
• 7" x 10" PDF
  

Battery Recycling

All non-vehicular batteries can be recycled in battery buckets in the community centers of every campus residence hall, as well as the locations listed below. Small batteries can also be mailed to the Office of Environmental Health and Safety via campus mail. Please note that batteries should be discharged and/or placed in plastic bags prior to recycling.

•  Public Safety Building, Environmental Health and Safety Office
• 7800 York Road receptionist's desk, suite 216
• Administration Building Fourth Floor Kitchen - AD 440
• Administration Building Procurement Department, room 410
• Burdick Hall Rec Sports service counter
• Center for the Arts Resource Room, room 2028
• Center for the Arts Theather Arts Department, room 3037

• Center for Liberal Arts, Room 1103
• Child Care Center main lobby receptionist desk
• Cook Library OTS Main Office, room 28
• Cook Library Media Services, room 202G
• Cook Library Technical Services, room 322
• Cook Library Circulation Desk, third floor
• Enrollment Services Occupational Therapy Department, room 245
• General Services truck well, adjacent to Materiel Management roll-up
• General Services copy machine, adjacent to Work Control
• Hawkins Hall Ed Tech Center, room 210
• Media Center room 007/008
• Smith Hall hallway adjacent to room 581
• Smith Hall Physics Electronics Shop, room 417
• Smith Hall Biology Stockroom, room 322
• Stephens Hall stairwell, across from room 112
• Towson Center Athletic Department Grounds Shop, room 150
• Towson Center Kinesiology Department, room 200

• Towson City Center, 3rd floor
• University Union Information Desk, second floor
• University Union E&CS Tech Support Office, room 394

For more information download the Battery Recycling Information Guide.

Fluorescent Light Bulb Recycling

Any type of compact fluorescent light bulb can be recycled in the community centers of every campus residence hall, as well as at the information desk on the second floor of the University Union. Give your bulbs to the attendant during operating hours, which are Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to midnight; Friday and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 1 a.m.; and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Printer Cartridge Recycling

The university recycles laser and inkjet printer cartridges through the Funding Factory. Each item recycled in the program gives the university points that can be used to purchase a variety of equipment and supplies. To recycle a printer cartridge, drop the cartridge in one of the RecycALL plus containers located in every residence hall lobby, or one of the hexagon-shaped green and white collection boxes at the locations listed below. If there is not a collection box in your area, contact university housekeeping at 410-704-2610 to request a collection bin.

• 7800 York Road loading dock, behind the building on the lower level near the print shop
• Administration Building hallway outside of room 108
• Center for Fine Arts loading dock area near room 3022ME
• College of Liberal Arts first floor, by double doors closest to construction
• Cook Library loading dock near recycling mondos
• Enrollment Services, 2nd floor hallway near Registrar's office
• General Services, mechanical room next to Work Control

• Hawkins Hall, contact Mylin King x42601
• Newell Dining Hall Dining Services Office
• West Village Commons 3rd floor, Residence Life Office
• Psychology Building charging station (outside)
• Smith Hall second floor
• Stephens Hall inside back doors near dumpster area
• Towson Center loading dock, contact Steve Zamagias x45498
• University Union second floor information desk

Special Recycling

Items that are not collected at Towson for recycling can often be recycled through organizations in the community. Baltimore County residents can dropped off most household recyclables at any of Baltimore County's three Waste Management Facilities: Eastern Sanitary Landfill Waste Management Facility (White Marsh), Baltimore County Resource Recovery Facility (Cockeysville), and Western Acceptance Facility (Halethorpe). Click here for locations, contacts, and hours of these facilities. Click here for a list of items accepted for recycling and disposal. If you live in Maryland outside of Baltimore County, here is a list of waste management facilities in Maryland sorted by county. MD Recycles also has a directory of organizations throughout Maryland that accept hard to recycle items.

Donation of Reusable Items

Unwanted office furniture or other Towson University property should be returned to Materiel Management. Complete the Materiel Management Service Request Form to have items removed from your office. The items will be placed in storage until they can be put to use. If you are looking for new office furniture, check with Materiel Management to see if they have something you can use.

If you have personal items in good condition which can be reused, many charities and organizations in the community will take them to help people in need. MD Recycles is an excellent website that contains a directory of organizations that accept reusable items such as food, furniture, toys, clothes, household goods, appliances, and more.

Composting

Towson composts food waste from dining hall kitchens. Leftovers and kitchen scraps are collected and picked up by Waste Neutral, an industrial composting company in Maryland. All organic food wastes are accepted, including meat, bones, dairy, oil, and paper napkins. Waste oils are also collected seperately to be processed into biofuels. Visit Chartwell's sustainability page for more information.

Green Purchasing

The State of Maryland provides environmentally preferable purchasing guidelines to all state agencies, including University System of Maryland. The guidelines include provisions for purchasing energy efficient electronics, recyclable products, products made from recycled materials, nontoxic materials, and more. Please follow these guidelines when making purchases for your department.

Hazardous Waste

Hazardous waste should not be dumped into regular trash containers. Follow instructions for storage and disposal from Office of Environmental Health and Safety. Hazardous wastes include biological wastes, chemicals, and pesticides.

Contacts

Please use the following contacts if you need help with waste reduction at Towson:

Single stream recycling (to ask what can be recycled, to request bins, make complaints about recycling): 410-704-2610, recycling@towson.edu

Electronics, batteries, CFL bulbs: (410) 704-2949, recycling@towson.edu

Printer cartridges: 410-704-2610

Reuse of university property: 410-704-2479, pbutler@towson.edu

Composting: (410) 704-5410, rcubbler@towson.edu

Green purchasing: 410-704-2171, jsutton@towson.edu

Hazardous waste: (410) 704-2949, safety@towson.edu

For interviews, marketing, suggestions, and general inquiries, contact the Office of Sustainability.

Office of Sustainability
General Services Building, Room 132A (map)
Hours: Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Phone: 410-704-3409
Fax: 410-704-6248
Email: gogreen@towson.edu