In 1985 the University of Minnesota Board of Regents directed the Administration to develop policies and plans to promote recycling and reuse of University Materials. The Campus W.A.S.T.E. Committee was formed in November of 1989. They were successful in obtaining a startup grant from the Minnesota Office of Waste Management in the summer of 1991. They decided to adopt the Quad System as was being used on the Twin Cities Campus.

The first area used to centralize, sort and store materials being recycled were two used semi trailers (pictured left). When West Central Experiment Station moved out of the Seed House that building became the new Recycling Center. After acquiring the new building we purchased a used baler to handle corrugated cardboard and plastics. Later came the purchased of a used shredder to handle confidential material and a scale so we could track weights of materials. And finally we were able to get a used shear from the Waseca Campus to use on catalogs, phone books and other bound material.