MSU students connect with surplus and recycling staff

More than 250 MSU students recently had the opportunity to collaborate with Surplus Store and Recycling staff to gain practical experience. The staff provided guest lectures, tours and hands-on examples of ongoing work.

“Students helped us with the composition of a campus building waste stream along with a question and answer period to discuss the findings of the waste stream assessment,” said Dave Smith, recycling coordinator.

Several sessions were held in February, March, and April. Kris Jolley, director of surplus and recycling, led tours for an urban planning domicology class.

“The tours began with a brief introduction of our department in the education center,” Smith said. “We discussed who we are and what we do along with our mission, which is to manage the university’s waste as a resource.”

From there, students had a complete tour of the building, highlighting its LEED Gold aspects, and finished with time for staff and students to interact and ask additional questions.

Other similar tours were set up for a civil engineering and packaging sustainability classes.

“There was a benefit for both students and the Surplus Store through these events,” Smith added. “Students gained good experience and the staff was able to collect data for future work.”