March 20, 2013

Grant will add 75 bins for bottle, can recycling

by Christi Mathis

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Southern Illinois University Carbondale just keeps getting “greener.”

The Saluki maroon isn’t going anywhere, but the move toward sustainability and green initiatives is expanding again with the addition of 75 additional recycling bins this month.  The blue, 60-gallon bins will be for bottles and cans only, and will soon be installed in University athletic facilities and the University Museum to boost recycling efforts there, according to Kris Schachel, University sustainability coordinator. 

SIU is one of 35 colleges and universities receiving grants through the Alcoa Foundation Collegiate Recycling Bin Grant program.  Overall, the program will add more than 11,500 recycling bins.

The University is also currently participating in the national 2013 RecycleMania Collegiate Recycling Tournament.  More than 600 institutions from across the country and Canada are competing to see which school can recycle the most on a per capita basis, which can produce the least amount of waste, and which can recycle the largest overall waste percentage over an eight-week period. 

SIU is hoping to be the top school in the Missouri Valley Conference.  Currently, the University is atop the MVC and in 127th place overall. 

Last year, 605 participating campuses collected more than 92 million pounds of recyclables and compostable organics.

The 2013 competition wraps up March 31.  Visit http://recyclemaniacs.org to keep an eye on the results.