The Michigan State University Recycling Center and Surplus store is responsible for tens of millions of pounds of material a year in recyclables and used objects, with a mission of utilizing university waste as a resource. Each day students and full time employees sort through the university’s recycling in order to identify valuable recyclables that eventually will become anything from cereal boxes to high quality compost and valuable metals.

With many consumer goods now being single use products, the recycling center employs about 90 employees, 30 of which are student workers, in order to leverage the university’s waste into a valuable resource.

Student employees work to separate recyclable material from "contaminated" garbage as the first stage of sorting in the recycling process at the MSU Recycling Center. Each student is equipped with kevlar gloves to protect against hypodermic needles and unhygienic material often placed in recycling bins accidentally. Once sorted by students, the facility's autonomous sorting robot quickly identifies any leftover recyclable material and using a hydraulic system removes it from the garbage belt shown. 

Each day, student employees work in diverse sectors of the recycling facility to gain a comprehensive understanding of waste management. They learn to operate industrial equipment such as Bobcats and strip cables to extract valuable metals from waste. 

One of the most interesting exports of the recycling facility is cardboard bales, to be reused in commercial products, most commonly to the Kellogg Company in Battle Creek, Michigan. The prices of the bales vary similarly to a commodity on the stock, and require MSU to employ a brokerage firm to sell them. 

The recycling center is one of a few facilities of its kind at a university, allowing students to work on campus to practice sustainability, recycling, and advocacy. On top of hiring 30 student workers in the facility itself, there are numerous student "Eco Reps" across campus that help residential dormitories to practice sustainability and environmental stewardship. 

Besides recycling the university’s waste bins, the facility also houses the Surplus Store, which serves as the designated endpoint for all University garbage. Items sent to the surplus store come in a wide range of conditions, having either reached the end of their lifespan, been upgraded, forgotten about, or simply replaced.

MSU Surplus Store employee Mitch Medina looks at vintage puzzles as an example of the large variety of items the store receives and sells. 

The Recycling Center receives over 10,000 lbs of books each week from libraries, donations, and recycling. They are then sold, donated or recycled.

The public is able to shop at the Surplus store once a week on Fridays, and can shop the tens of thousands of items available online with worldwide shipping. 

Public Shopping

The general public is able to shop at the Surplus Store once a week in person, and online 24/7.

All of the stores products are tagged and catalogued on the store's website and eBay. 



Allen Hines of East Lansing reads a book while shopping at the Surplus Store in East Lansing, Michigan on Jan. 31, 2025.

Michigan State University Surplus Store & Recycling Center service manager Dave Smith poses for a portrait in the Vermicompost facility at the Michigan State University surplus store in East Lansing, Michigan on Jan. 31, 2025. 

Vermicompost

One of the most unique parts of the facility, the Vermicompost facility outside which hosts over a million worms of varied species that transform dining hall waste into premium compost. 


Balancing the temperature, insulation methods, and ammonia/pH levels helps to convert over 200,000 lbs of organic material a year from campus dining halls, Sparty's locations, and nearby coffee shops. 

From Food Waste to Plant Nutrients

In addition to selling the recycled material and surplus good of Michigan State's campus, the Recycling Center provides premium compost to a campus environmental stewardship program called R.I.S.E (Residential Initiative on the Study of the Environment).

Students Lead the Way

At the Bailey Greenhouse in the Brody Neighborhood of MSU, students live, learn, and work in the same place- opting into the RISE program allows them to practice their majors in a hands on way, not afraid to get their hands dirty.

The produce grown in the Bailey Greenhouse with Recycling Center compost is sold to the Brody Dining Hall right next door.

RISE students Allison Saunders, sophomore, and Andrea Buhl, freshman, pose for a portrait among the Swiss chard being grown for MSU's Brody Dining Hall in the Bailey Greenhouse in East Lansing, Michigan on Oct. 24, 2024. 

Collaboration 

Students in the RISE program work with a variety of outside units across Michigan State including Residential and Hospitality Services, Student Organic Farm and MSU Sustainability to provide fresh produce 9 months a year to campus dining halls and the Kellogg Center State Room. 

Conservation

As RISE students also live on campus, they work to reduce their impact on the environment through decreasing their energy usage, reducing dining hall waste, and encouraging more sustainable material use practices. By encouraging mindfulness in education and lifestyle, conservation is a key priority.


Allison Saunders and Andrea Buhl deliver freshly cut swiss chard grown in the RISE greenhouse to Brody Dining Hall in East Lansing, Michigan on Oct. 24, 2024.

RISE students Andrea Buhl and Allison Saunders deliver swiss chard grown in the Bailey Greenhouse to Brody Dining Hall in East Lansing, Michigan on Oct. 24, 2024. 

Allison Saunders of MSU RISE puts swiss chard grown in the Bailey Greenhouse in the refrigerators of Brody Dining Hall in East Lansing, Michigan on Oct. 24, 2024. 

Michigan State RISE freshman Rachel Sackett waves in the Bailey Greenhouse in East Lansing, Michigan on Oct. 24, 2024

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