ASU awarded Think Green Grant, will expand composting program

ASU is the recipient of one of 50 $4,000 Think Green Grants from Waste Management, Inc. and Keep America Beautiful.

Waste Management’s Think Green Grants are part of its nationwide effort to improve community environments through cleanups, beautification, recycling and educational programs. A local Waste Management public sector representative nominated ASU for the grant.

The winning proposal by ASU will expand its Green Bin program. ASU Facilities Development Management Recycling program staff will collaborate with the ASU School of Sustainability in a capstone class. The goal will be for students to identify innovative solutions that improve and expand the Green Program to ultimately divert all of all ASU’s organic waste from the landfill.

“This gives us the opportunity to connect academics with operations by asking School of Sustainability students to innovate solutions to Green Bin organics collection expansion,” said Alana Levine, ASU Recycling Program Manager. “Students will actually see their ideas realized at ASU and establish a collection model for other communities to use.”

The collaborative efforts will help move ASU toward its Zero Waste by 2015 goal. During 2012, ASU sent 6,778 tons of waste to the landfill and 25 percent of that was meal scraps, including food and food service products.

Food-service workers currently use Green Bins to compost all food and paper food-service items at the Hassayampa and Barrett, The Honors College dining halls on the ASU Tempe campus.

For more information about the Think Green Grant, read the Waste Management press release (PDF).