Although Ball State University has long participated in traditional office waste recycling programs via a system parallel to the Muncie Sanitary District Blue Bag system, it has also engaged in more innovative efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle its operational waste stream.

Examples include:

  • Campus trimmings and yard waste recycled as campus planter bed mulch
  • Construction project demolition recycling including:
    • the grinding of Irving Gym concrete into dense-graded aggregate for site use in placing the Gora Building
    • the source separation bin placement of recyclable materials (a la LEED) wherein there were numerous bins used by contractors to direct steel, wood, etc. to the technical nutrient recycling stream (a la Bill McDonough in Cradle to Cradle)
  • Reuse of structural frame in major building renovations to avoid landfill.  All materials were salvaged per LEED specifications.
  • Relocation and reuse of the Alumni House as the administrative headquarters of the Indiana Academy for Science Mathematics and Humanities

Below are a sampling of images depicting some of these efforts.

Lafollete Demo

Lafollette demolition.

Lafollete Recycling

Strategic material recovery.

Concrete Grinder

Concrete grinder.

Ground Concrete

Ground concrete for reuse.

Stack

Smoke stack removal.

Stack Collection

Stack material collection.

mulch

Grinding to create mulch for campus.

grinder

Concrete crusher/grinder.

aggregate

Aggregate from recycled concrete.

aggregate in use

Aggregate from recycled concrete in use.

Johnson Complex Before

Johnson Complex "Before".  Structural frame preserved during major renovation.

Johnson Complex After

Johnson Complex "After". Technique used on three dormatory renovations to date.