Closing the Loop at Green Mountain College

 

Green Mountain College will be taking part in a closed-loop recycling program, in which the school's paper recyclables are made into toiletry items and shipped back to the campus.

By Erin Weaver

Many recyclable goods end up in landfills for lack of a market for the recycled materials, but this is slowly changing as post-consumer closed-loop recycling becomes more common.

Green Mountain College (GMC) in Poultney, Vermont, is joining Casella Waste Systems’ “Power of Three” closed-loop recycling initiative involving the recycling company, a local paper manufacturer, and the distributor from which GMC already purchases its paper products. All of GMC’s paper, plastic, glass, and metal recyclables will be commingled and shipped about 20 miles to Casella’s facility in Rutland, Vermont; once the material has been mechanically sorted, the baled paper will be shipped about 45 miles and made into 100% recycled paper toiletry products to be delivered back to the college. 

In 2011, GMC became the country’s second climate-neutral campus.

May 1, 2012
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1. Photo: Green Mountain College
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