af&pa College & university recycling award
Georgia institute of technology

The recycling program at Georgia Tech began in 1996, when four undergraduate civil and environmental engineering students analyzed the solid waste and recycling process at the university.  Their report led to the creation of the Office of Solid Waste Management and Recycling the following year.  In the decade since, recycling programs have been successfully integrated into virtually all components of campus life. 


To help make paper recycling easy for students and staff, Georgia Tech provides a comprehensive recycling program that includes 24 outdoor collection sites and 11 outdoor “satellite” recycling stations located in heavily trafficked areas throughout campus.  These stations accept newspaper, aluminum cans, and plastic bottles.  Cardboard is collected at 54 permanent locations throughout campus.  There are additional drop-off sites on each side of the campus that accept magazines, mixed office paper, and newsprint.


Georgia Tech makes it easy for students living on campus to recycle.  Every residence hall apartment, individual suite, and traditional room comes equipped with a 40-quart blue container to collect mixed office paper, newsprint, aluminum cans, and plastic bottles.  Students empty their blue containers at outside stations where they separate recyclables by type.


The 114 academic and support buildings on campus are also provided with recycling opportunities.  Each occupant is provided with a desk-side container for the collection of mixed office paper and aluminum cans.  When employees’ containers are full they take them to a larger, centrally located container within the building.  Special arrangements are made to collect and shred sensitive and confidential materials for recycling.  A Recycling Contact Person (RCP) in each academic building acts as a liaison with the Recycling Office and encourages recycling efforts within the building.


Georgia Tech students and staff are kept informed about recycling efforts through a web site (www.recycle.gatech.edu) and an electronic newsletter, the Buzzline.  Throughout the year, special recycling efforts are also conducted in conjunction with move-in/move-out dates, freshman orientation, Homecoming, and Earth Day.  In addition, a recently launched Greek Neighborhood Recycling Program has established an outdoor recycling site where students living off campus can recycle cardboard and other materials.