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Kicking of Recyclemania!

Recyclemania starts on February 3.  We’re going to have a hard time topping our placement last year (see below).

But we can start by reviewing what we can and cannot recycle on campus.  For example, a lot of people don’t realize that you can recycle flatboard (the kind of material cereal boxes are made of) along with the office paper.  Or that corrugated cardboard (the kind of material packing boxes are made of) has to be recycled separately from office paper.  For a refresher, check out the Recycling page.  Here’s to a great competition!

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Final Recyclemania Results!

The final results are in for the Recyclemania Tournament, and BCC finished 17th in the nation out of 266 colleges and universities, with a 55.5% recycling rate (a jump from 26th in the nation last year).  We finished 2nd out of 24 schools in the state of Massachusetts.  Congratulations to the Mass Maritime Academy (#1 in Massachusetts and #3 in the nation with an 82% recycling rate).  And congratulations to American University (#1 overall with an 85% recycling rate).  During the “offseason” we’ll try to come up with ways to improve to a 60% recycling rate next year.  We’ll also be “recruiting” for ideas (contact me or leave a comment in this site).

 

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Green Team Partner Highlight: CET

The Center for EcoTechnology (CET) has been in existence since 1976 engaging in work that demonstrates and promotes practical, affordable solutions to the environmental challenges encountered in our daily activities. They offer all types of services and opportunities to the public as part of their mission. To see more about their upcoming events, follow this link:

http://cetonline.org/Events/events.php?id=193

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Did you ever wonder where our recycled paper goes?

As you walk around campus and see the multitude of small blue paper recycling buckets, have you ever wondered where the paper that you put in them goes?

Here at BCC, we have a contract with CET, the Center for EcoTechnology (www.cetonline.org). Each week, they come and pick up the large plastic plastic toters of paper we recycle and bring it to Erving Industries in Erving,  MA. There, it is recycled into tissue and other papers. Jamie Cahillane, who works as the Manager of Recycling Services and Waste Reduction at CET, sits on our campus Green Team and recently went to the  Erving Industries facility. He’s forwarded on some pictures so we can see where the paper we recycle at here at the College winds up. Enjoy!

NOTE: You click on the thumbnails below to get a larger more detailed image.

 

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Last Week!

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).

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Benefits of RecycleMania

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.

 

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Fourth Among Community Colleges!

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.

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BCC #12 in the Nation

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

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RecycleMania Week 2

We’re still in the Top 20 nationally!  Though in Week 2 our recycling rate slipped a bit, look for a big jump in Week 3 due to a massive paper-shredding by our Business Office (thank you Mitch and Bill for sharing those numbers!).  If you have comments, suggestions, or “inspirational recycling stories” (!) please let us know.

If you want to see how BCC stacks up against other schools, here are the official Week 2 Results from RecycleMania: