Pensacola State College will soon be replacing some of its dumpsters with recycling containers thanks to a grant provided by a partnership between Keep America Beautiful and Coca-Cola. The containers will be material specific, each container having different bins for placing paper, plastic and glass.
Recycling bin grant recipients were chosen by Keep America Beautiful based on a number of criteria. For example, if bins are likely to have the most impact on recovering beverage containers from the waste stream, the ability of recipients to sustain their program, and the intent to provide recycling education where some of the necessary criteria.
This recycling initiative is not the first step that Pensacola State has taken in the green direction according to Shannon Keithly, PSC’s Energy Education Specialist.
“‘Green’ is a very large and evolving concept.” said Keithly, “I don’t think it is a state that an institution ever really achieves, but rather an aspiration with an ever-moving target. We can always do more to reduce our impact on the environment. In recent years, Pensacola State has taken some big, positive steps in the direction of being more green.”
Those steps include convening in an Environmental Sustainability Committee to take actions that promote sustainability throughout neighboring communities, and becoming a member of the US Green Building Council. PSC has also made commitments to measure and track energy use, develop plans for energy improvements, and make efficiency upgrades.
Pensacola State’s move toward the green state of mind does not end there. There are several projects in the works to maintain our effort. For example, the lighting in building 15 will be replaced with LEDs this Fall. We are also anticipating a grant from the state so that we can purchase solar panels to heat our pool.
“Green is a community thing,” according to Shannon Kiethly. So, PSC could adopt all the green initiatives available and it wouldn’t matter unless we all, as students and members of a community, participate. Therefore, next time you think about throwing that plastic Coke bottle in the trash, make sure it gets tossed into one of our new recycling bins.