The new Booth Library, renovated, expanded and refurnished, is not without its casualties.

The out-dated, pre-renovation furniture is being recycled, handed down and, in some cases, thrown out.

Workers have been throwing away 10 percent of the wood furniture that was in the old library, while the remaining furniture was either considered salvageable or recyclable, Carol Strode, interim director of Facilities Planning and Management, said.

Strode said any material that is not metal and cannot be used anymore is thrown away; furthermore, that material cannot be given away or left out for passers-by because of a state rule that requires all material to be recycled or disposed.

“Anything that couldn’t be used on (Eastern’s) campus or other campuses is destroyed,” she said. “(It’s) our mission to go ahead and get rid of that.”

However, the university can give the salvageable material to any school district, university or college that is in need by sending that material to the Central Management Services (CMS) warehouse in Springfield and from there CMS allows the material to be taken based on need, Strode said.

As part of a commitment to reduce waste on campus, the university recycles all metal material. This 14-year commitment maintains that the university must show that 40 percent of its metal materials are recycled, Allen Rathe, recycling coordinator for the Physical Plant, said.

Once the metal that is recycled is weighed, the university earns credit for that amount towards their 40 percent goal and CMS receives a payment for the material, Don Mathenia, building service supervisor of the Physical Plant, said Tuesday.

Although Rathe is unsure of the payment that CMS receives, he said it is not much because of the slow economy and commodity markets for materials.

“People need to buy more recycled products,” he said. “It creates a demand for what we’re recycling. Any time they buy post-consumer goods, it does help bring the market back up.”

Mathenia said the 10 percent of the non-salvageable material from the old library was destroyed by workers and students in order for all the material to fit into a dumpster and be hauled away.

“Sometimes I think (the students) take out their frustrations on it,” Mathenia said.

The wood material was unable to be salvaged because while it was in storage during library construction, the furniture collected moisture and warped, making it impossible to piece back together or salvage, Mathenia said.