Well, we are in the middle of Week 8 – the last week of RecycleMania.  So, if you have any files you plan to clean out anyway, if you get them into recycling bins by Friday afternoon, they will be counted in our Week 8 total.  The Week 6 results are now posted, and BCC is holding strong at #15 in the nation, with a 58% recycling rate…  Thanks to all the support this has had – it looks like we may be able to beat the goals we set for ourselves! (Our goals were to get into the Top 25, and to get to a 55% recycling rate).

We’re still going strong – the Week 5 Results were posted yesterday, and BCC is #15 in the nation with a 58% recycling rate.

You may be wondering – how does this benefit BCC?  After all, there is no “prize” – only recognition.  But the main benefit is what our monitoring and reporting tells us about our own waste stream.  For example, over the last few years, we’ve learned that we needed fewer trash dumpsters and fewer pickups by Allied Waste.  We also increased pickups of most recyclables.  The net result is that BCC saved several thousand dollars a year.

Through four weeks of competition, we’re still doing great nationally – #13 with a 59% recycling rate.  In the state of Massachusetts we are ranked #2 (congratulations to the Massachusetts Maritime Academy with an 80% recycling rate!), and we are ahead of a lot of great Massachusetts schools (Harvard, Tufts, Brandeis, MIT, Amherst, Bunker Hill Community College, and Boston College, among others).  And among two-year schools in the nation, we are currently #4.  Congratulations everyone, and remember, everything that makes it to the right bin between now and March 29 helps us meet our goals.

As expected, the document shredding / recycling by the Business Office last week really gave a boost to our recycling rate.  (And yes, I did check with the RecycleMania “brass” first to make sure we could count that).  We currently have a recycling rate of 63% and have jumped to #12 nationwide!  Of course our final position will almost certainly be lower than that, since we don’t shred 5,000 pounds of documents every week (!)  But, our chances of finishing in the Top 20, with more than a 55% recycling rate, are looking good.  See official Week 3 results here:

http://recyclemaniacs.org/scoreboard/current-results/competition-division