August 12, 2009—The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) has unveiled case studies of its 2009 AF&PA Recycling Award-winning programs, giving organizations “how-to guides to create their own successful paper recycling programs in schools, universities, businesses and communities.
The case studies, available online, provide detailed information on how each of the winners developed strategies for administration, public outreach, collection methods and building partnerships.
The 2009 award winners are Giant Eagle (business), Stanford University (universities), Wake County School District in North Carolina (schools), and Orange County, N.C. (community). The case studies highlight how much paper these groups have recycled and go into detail about the history of the programs, how employees (or students or residents) are educated or trained, how recyclables are collected, and how improvements in the program are tracked.
Thanks to successful programs like these and the efforts of millions of Americans, AF&PA in March announced that a record-high 57.4 percent of the paper consumed in the U.S. was recovered for recycling in 2008. The paper industry’s goal is 60 percent recovery by 2012.
