Vanderbilt recycling up 500% since 2007
Once again, Vanderbilt has increased the amount of materials it recycled! Recycling increased by 15% from 2014 to 2015, now totaling 8.7 million pounds of materials per year. That is the same weight as 19 Statues of Liberty! Vanderbilt has increased recycling by almost 500% since 2007.
In 2015, Vanderbilt recycled enough cardboard, plastic, scrap metal, aluminum, glass, bulbs, electronics, and ink/toner cartridges to conserve the equivalent of the following natural resources:
- 77,500 mature trees saved;
- 15,000 cubic yards of landfill airspace, equal to the space inside 135 semi-trailers;
- 18 million kilowatt hours of electricity, which is enough electricity to power 1,500 homes for a year;
- 9,000 barrels of oil which is enough oil to produce 171,000 gallons of gasoline;
- 14,000 metric tons (MTCO2E) of greenhouse gas emissions; and
- 27 million gallons of water, which would fill 41 Olympic sized swimming pools.
Vanderbilt also had a record year for ink and toner cartridge recycling in collaboration with Procurement and Disbursement Services and Guy Brown. VU staff recycled over 13,700 cartridges with a 63% recovery rate in 2015, almost doubling that of 2014.
For more information about Vanderbilt’s recycling program, visit the SustainVU website, contact recycle@vanderbilt.edu or call 615-343-2784.
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