The Alabama Department of Environmental Management recently award the Waste Reduction & Recycling Department of Auburn University’s an eighty five thousand dollar grant to improve recycling services on the college campus.

The funds will be used to purchase recycling bins and equipment to increase the convenience of recycling for the entire university community. The funds will also be used to improve outreach efforts to encourage participation from students, staff, and faculty in local recycling programs. The University first began their campus-wide recycling program in 2005 and has continually looked for ways to enhance and expand the reach of their services.

The grant funds are made available through Alabama’s Solid Wastes and Recyclable Materials Management Act which places a one dollar per ton fee for all waste materials disposed of in state landfills. To date, over one million dollars from the fees collected has been awarded to community groups and organizations looking to reduce waste and improve recycling in the state of Alabama. Auburn University has received close to a quarter of a million dollars from the fund since 2009.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: If you live in a state that places a fee on landfill dumping, looking into recycling and waste reduction grants might just help your municipal government or local non-profit organization. A special program grant can help to start a new recycling program or energize an existing one. There’s no guarantee that a grant application will be funded, you’ll never know what’s possible if you don’t try!