JOHNSON CITY (March 15, 2013) – Alcoa Foundation is partnering with national nonprofit Keep America Beautiful (KAB) and the College and University Recycling Coalition (CURC) to provide 60 recycling bins to East Tennessee State University as part of the Alcoa Foundation Recycling Bin Grant Program.

ETSU is one of 35 colleges and universities receiving a portion of more than 11,500 recycling bins. The university will use the bins in athletic facilities around the campus.

The Alcoa Foundation Recycling Bin Grant Program is an effort to help schools boost their recycling results during the eight-week RecycleMania Tournament, and then expand recycling efforts throughout the year.

During RecycleMania, which concludes on March 31, colleges and universities vie for top awards in nine categories to see which schools recycle the most on a per capita basis, produce the least amount of waste and recycle the largest percentage of their overall waste. In 2012, 605 institutions of higher education participated in the challenge, collecting more than 92 million pounds of recyclables and compostable organics. ETSU has participated the past three years and recycles approximately 100 tons during the competition period.

In an additional effort, CURC and KAB, along with the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, has announced the schedule for its 2013 series of educational webinars, sponsored by Alcoa Foundation. The webinars feature collegiate and industry recycling experts covering a range of topics related to sustainable materials management. All webinars are free to registered participants and the schedule can be viewed at www.curc3r.org.

For further information about the grant or ETSU’s recycling efforts, contact Kathleen Moore, director of sustainability, at moore@etsu.edu.