News Article

Grant Provides Recycling Bins for A-State's Outdoor Events

JONESBORO – During the Community and Organization Fair Wednesday, Aug. 26, at Arkansas State University, new recycling bins will be available for students to show concern for their campus and the environment.

The fair, conducted each year to familiarize both new and returning students with opportunities on and off campus, runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the Heritage Plaza Lawn at the Carl R. Reng Student Union.

A national grant program, made possible by Keep America Beautiful (KAB) and The Coca-Cola Foundation, provided 25 new recycling bins to A-State.

"We chose the blue Keep America Beautiful bins for two reasons," stated Helen McCoy, recycling and waste manager for A-State Facilities Management.  "Our outside event trash containers are red and we didn’t want to make it confusing.  Also, our standard containers used inside buildings are blue."

During the past fiscal year, A-State recycled 584,000 pounds of material, about 40 percent more than the previous year.

She said the campus goal for the new 30-gallon bins is to recover more recyclables from outside events, helping boost the campus recovery rate.

"We are very appreciative to Keep America Beautiful and Coca Cola for making these bins available," McCoy added. "Bins will be moved to outside campus events if we are notified cans or bottles will be used."

Arkansas State is one of 37 colleges and universities receiving support from the Coca-Cola/Keep America Beautiful Recycling Bin Grant Program.  An additional 52 grants are being awarded to non-collegiate locations for a total of 5,300 bins.

“Through this program and our more than 50-year partnership with Keep America Beautiful, we are helping to ensure that communities understand the importance of recycling,” said Lori George Billingsley, vice president, community relations, Coca-Cola North America.

“Research has shown that convenience is a key factor in getting people to recycle,” said Brenda Pulley, senior vice president, recycling, Keep America Beautiful. “With Coca-Cola’s continued support, the recycling bins provided through the grant program create literally thousands of new opportunities for people to recycle in public areas.”

Recipients were chosen by Keep America Beautiful based on criteria including the extent of need, recycling experience and ability to sustain the program.  Special outreach was made to colleges and universities through a partnership with the College and University Recycling Coalition (CURC), a membership organization serving campus recycling managers.

A full list of the spring 2015 Recycling Bin Grant recipients and further information about the grant program is available at http://bingrant.org.

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