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Ninety-two percent of students say that sustainability is something that all schools should actively pursue and promote. Students are increasingly interested in learning about sustainable practices, educational options highlighting green initiatives, and making eco-friendly choices.
Schools need a broad approach to sustainability, including curricula, ongoing education, and visible signs of commitment to meet student and staff needs. One of the most direct ways to meet initiative goals and promote environmentally friendly practices is to implement recycling bins for schools throughout campus. Both indoor and outdoor school recycling bins help with separating waste from recycling, but outdoor bins must also withstand the weather.
When looking for customizable, weatherproof school recycling bins, there are several key factors to consider.
Plastic and steel bins offer durability. Look for UV-protection, rust-resistant, and fire-retardant materials specifically engineered for extended outdoor use and recycling streams. Many suppliers use recycled plastic products and eco-friendly manufacturing processes to help meet sustainable procurement goals. Such products mirror the look and quality of wood but provide greater durability to withstand inclement weather.
Water is often the biggest concern, degrading the quality of outdoor bins. Look for school recycling bins that also have drainage holes to prevent water accumulation.
One of the keys to successful school recycling programs is visibility and ease of use. Recycling bins for schools can be customized with school colors, mascots, logos, and custom messaging to tie into existing branding and campaigns. This makes it easy for students and staff to spot bins and serves as a constant reminder of the need for recycling.
Creative shapes can make bins eye-catching, so they are even more visible.
Along with the bins themselves, signage and messaging play an important role in helping students, faculty, and staff take part. Do not underestimate the impact the right signage can play in participation and reducing waste contamination.
Bin openings and foot pedals should be easy for all students to understand and operate. School recycling bins must also meet ADA accessibility standards with appropriate reach ranges and operational methods.
Bin capacity should meet facility recycling volumes while factoring in maintenance resources for managing full bins. You need to ensure the proper staffing or outsourced collection resources to service your recycling bins for schools. If they are constantly full or overflowing, you are hindering collection efforts and sending a poor message about your commitment to sustainability.
Carefully evaluate prospective locations for new outdoor recycling bins for schools based on accessibility for custodial pickups and proximity to target usage zones. Bins should be placed in areas easily accessible to waste management crews, considering potential obstacles, slopes, and service road infrastructure. Locations that minimize required pickup transit across campus should be prioritized where feasible to create operational efficiencies.
In terms of placement targeting student and faculty usage, centralized zones of campus should be equipped, such as:
Consider gathering direct population flow input from facilities, administrators, and students to identify key intersections, chokepoints, or recent traffic pattern shifts ideal to target updated recycling access.
A phased rollout of new indoor and outdoor school recycling bins is recommended across facilities and pickup schedules. Develop a bin rollout schedule aligned to maintenance staffing to prevent overflow or lack of servicing as students and teachers adjust. Appoint sustainability captains to help train all students, faculty, and staff on the proper use of the bins in their rollout zone.
During training, demonstrate acceptable and prohibited materials for new recycling bins for schools. Have students practice sorting waste items into the correct bins and signage. Tie training into any existing sustainability curriculum, explaining why proper waste sorting helps the environment. Place visual reminders like bin toppers near bins, illustrating usable materials as references.
Analyze recycling capture rates relative to waste volumes before and after upgrades at each collection area. Watch for lower-than-expected capture rates or higher contamination, and adjust signage, training, or pickups accordingly. Continue periodic checks even after the full campus launch to reinforce positive usage behaviors with the outdoor bins as students come and go. Because there is a constant influx of new students, education needs to be continuous.
You may also want to maintain open communication channels for students, faculty, and staff to suggest improvements to the program.
E&I Cooperative Services, the only non-profit, member-owned sourcing cooperative exclusively focused on education, offers a variety of cooperative contracts with leading suppliers of recycling bins for schools. You can leverage the bulk buying power of 6,000 member institutions to opt-in to significantly lower pricing and faster procurement.
Looking for customizable and weatherproof school recycling bins? View competitively solicited contracts with Prestwick and Recycle Away from E&I Cooperative Services today.
