Keep America Beautiful and The Coca-Cola Company are working together to address one of the primary barriers to recycling in public spaces by making access to recycling bins more readily available and convenient through the 2016 Coca-Cola/Keep America Beautiful Public Space Recycling Bin Grant Program. Today, Keep America Beautiful and The Coca-Cola Company announced that they will be awarding 12 recycling bins to Beloit College.
In addition to the grant-funded recycling bins, Beloit College student government co-sponsored for additional matching trash and recycling bins, bringing the total of new bins on campus to 37. The new recycling and trash bins can be found on the residential side of campus and at the Strong Stadium complex. Sustainability Coordinator Lindsay Chapman applied for the grant to provide the campus community and guests of the college with options to properly dispose of recyclable items while on their day-to-day routines or while visiting the campus.
“Before now, there were zero outdoor recycling opportunities at the Strong Stadium complex and the majority of the trash at the sports fields consisted of plastic bottles and aluminum cans. The same was true for several locations on the residential side of campus as well. I expect the new recycling bins to drastically decrease the amount of recyclables that end up in our trash stream, and ultimately in the landfill,” said Chapman.
In total, the Coca-Cola/Keep America Beautiful Public Space Recycling Bin Grant Program will provide 3,522 recycling bins to colleges and universities, along with 996 bins to local governments and nonprofit organizations. The Coca-Cola/Keep America Beautiful Recycling Bin Grant Program addresses lack of convenience by providing a significant number of bins in strategic locations. Including the 2016 grants, over 49,000 recycling bins will have been placed by the program in 925 communities nationwide since its inception in 2007.
Grant recipients were chosen by Keep America Beautiful based on their potential to collect the most cans and bottles as well other considerations such as the extent of their need, recycling experience, and their ability to sustain the program in the future. A full list of the 2016 Coca-Cola/Keep America Beautiful Public Space Recycling Bin Grant recipients, as well as Keep America Beautiful’s best practices guide, “Designing Effective Public Space Recycling Programs,” is available at http://bingrant.org.
