America Recycles Day is a nationally recognized day dedicated to promoting and celebrating recycling in the United States. Keep America Beautiful, the leading organization behind America Recycles Day, encourages organizations to host events and educate neighbors, friends and colleagues every year on or around November 15. We did a few things this year to participate that we want to share!
We decided to register our annual E-Cycle Day collection event as an official America Recycles Day event. For the 10th year in a row, employees took advantage of the opportunity to drop off their unwanted electronics to be safely and securely recycled by our partner Sunnking. The event took place on November 10, which just so happened to be an extremely cold and blustery day with temperatures only maxing in the low 20’s. But the cold did not stop us from holding an outstanding collection! A total of 26,744 lbs was collected to be exact. A huge shout-out to DU who sent us volunteers throughout the day. This marked the eighth year in a row that the fraternity had faithfully sent us volunteers who worked hard with smiles on their faces! We were also fortunate enough to have Ulyssess and Rob from Medical Center Facilities Operations. We are so grateful to everyone who made the event possible. The picture below really captured the dark cold morning before sunrise, which happens to be the busiest time of our collection. See our photo album on Facebook for more pictures. An article with full details of the event will be coming soon as a Go Green feature!
To acknowledge the official day on November 15, Facilities Team Green hosted a fun campaign. The team set up a table in Wilson Commons and asked patrons to share why they recycle. For those who were willing to, we posted their pictures on social media holding their personalized “I recycle because…” sign. Facilities Team Green received a wide variety of answers to this question, ranging from song lyrics to interest in protecting their favorite animal species. Pictured below is Sustainability Assistant Emma Briggs (Class of 2018). You can see more pictures on our Facebook photo album here. We hope it made people think why sustainability is important on a personal level!
Then to switch things up, we coordinated a tour of our local landfill on Friday, November 17. The tour was arranged to give the EcoReps and GreenReps a firsthand look at what happens to our trash after it goes in the bin. The High Acres Landfill has a methane gas recovery facility features a methane gas renewable energy plant that produces enough energy to power 9,000 homes. There is even a unique workforce of falcons (that’s right; predatory birds) that help to control the seagull population. The group also got an inside look at the composting operation, located on the same property, to which the University sends food waste and other organic materials. We will be following up with a separate post about the tour so stay tuned!
