The amount of materials recycled on the Marietta campus has nearly doubled since the campus installed new bins in January, according to the Office of Sustainability.
More than 1,100 pounds of plastics and aluminum have been recycled, and more than 300 students have been involved with the recycling efforts since January when the Office of Sustainability received the prestigious Keep America Beautiful Public Space Recycling Infrastructure Grant. The grant, sponsored by Coca-Cola, provided 30 recycling bins to the Marietta campus, which were installed in February.
Seven months later, the Marietta campus now has 54 recycling bins, and students are more excited than ever about recycling.
“Our students are passionate about recycling,” John Anderson, assistant vice president of facilities services at Kennesaw State, wrote in a press release. “This grant is important in improving our recycling infrastructure at the Marietta campus and highlights the University’s commitment to boost campus recycling rates and expand our overall sustainability efforts across both campuses.”
The blue bins are conveniently located in high-traffic areas across the Marietta campus, including by the dining hall, student center, residence halls and academic buildings.
Kristofer Moore, a sophomore environmental engineering student, has been an integral member of the recycling efforts, collecting, weighing and compacting the recycled trash.
“It has been really neat getting to work with the Office of Sustainability in their efforts to make both the Kennesaw and Marietta campuses greener,” Moore said.
After recycled materials are collected and compacted, they are sent to a recycling facility where they are re-purposed, reducing the amount of trash sent to local landfills.
“It is really important that we are not sending all of KSU’s trash to landfills,” Moore said.
The Office of Sustainability is composed of KSU students who are passionate about recycling and sustainability efforts. It has also led the way in increasing student awareness of sustainability efforts by giving multiple presentations on recycling, energy efficient appliances, LEED-certified buildings, and sustainability initiatives.
“I want to make the KSU student body more informed of sustainability efforts and make sure they know how simple it is to recycle,” Moore said.
The Office of Sustainability highly encourages all students to recycle their plastic and aluminum wastes in the recycling bins on both the Kennesaw and Marietta campuses. According to Moore, the Office of Sustainability plans to host lectures on sustainability in the future.
