The university’s Office of Sustainability and Door 2 Door Recycling will host the Egg Bowl Glass Recycling Drive from 2 to 6 p.m. Nov. 9 in the parking lot at the Jackson Avenue Center. Members of the LOU community are invited to bring their clean, empty glass containers for recycling. Photo by Kevin Bain/Ole Miss Digital Imaging Services
OXFORD, Miss. – Members of the University of Mississippi community will soon be able to compete in a different kind of Egg Bowl: a glass recycling contest.
Conducted by the Office of Sustainability in partnership with Door 2 Door Recycling, the Egg Bowl Glass Recycling Drive will run 2-6 p.m. Nov. 9 in the parking lot at the Jackson Avenue Center. Ole Miss will compete with Mississippi State University to see which campus collects the most glass.
“Because we aren’t able to offer glass recycling through normal recycling collection on campus, we get a lot of questions about glass,” said Kendall McDonald, associate director of the UM sustainability office. “Glass is tricky to recycle because of its weight, which increases the cost and emissions generated through transportation.
“Door 2 Door provides a unique solution, as they process glass waste differently by milling it down to be used in other applications, diverting it from landfills and generating new materials in the process.”
Glass recycling is an important service because it does not break down in landfills, said Faith Young, owner of Door 2 Door.
“We have enjoyed working with Mississippi educational institutions to encourage recycling,” Young said. “We’re trying to make glass recycling more readily available to citizens of our state.”
Those interested in participating in the event should know the following:
- Glass items that can be recycled are bottles, mason jars, beverage containers, jelly jars, etc.
- Glass items that cannot be recycled are stemware, auto glass, shattered glass, glass vases and ceramic.
- All containers must be rinsed and emptied. Labels may remain on the containers.
- Glass should be sorted by color: clear, blue, green, brown and yellow. As the organizers will be sorting by color, glass that is pre-sorted will help each participant get in and out faster.
McDonald stressed that the best way to reduce glass waste is to purchase groceries in packaging that can be recycled by the city of Oxford.
“The next best way is to take advantage of events like this to dispose of your glass waste in a safe and ecologically sensible manner, while supporting a local, family-owned Mississippi business,” she said.
Citizens have a responsibility to “do the right thing” and recycle, Young said.
“My rule of thumb is to leave the world in a better place than when you entered it,” she said.
“And who wouldn’t want their school to be the glass recycling champions?”