The Centre County Recycling & Refuse Authority has been awarded Gold recognition by the State Electronics Challenge—a national environmental leadership program—for its accomplishments in green procurement, energy and paper conservation, and responsible recycling of electronic office equipment in 2014.
“The Authority has not only made commitments to environmental stewardship, but has acted on those commitments,” commented Lynn Rubinstein, State Electronics Challenge Program Manager. “The Authority is one of only 12 organizations being recognized this year, and the only Recycling Authority.”
“We are so proud to receive this award. The Authority has been participating in electronics recycling since 2002. Environmental stewardship at the front end is the next logical step. We encourage anyone that would like to know how simple this is to please contact us,” commented Joanne Shafer, CCRRA’s Recycling Coordinator.
As a result of these environmental initiatives, in 2014 Centre County Recycling saved enough energy to power 721 households per year, avoided greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to removing 249 cars from the road per year, avoided the generation of more 365 tons of trash – equivalent to the waste generated by 177 households/year, as well as avoiding the generation of 66 tons of hazardous waste – equivalent to the weight of 484 refrigerators.
Centre County Recycling & Refuse has committed to purchasing computer and imaging equipment that is qualified by the Electronic Procurement Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) standard.
EPEAT is an internationally recognized system that identifies office equipment that meets specified environmental performance criteria. The Authority also uses power management to decrease the energy load of office equipment, uses double-sided printing to decrease paper usage, and ensures that at the end-of-life, equipment is recycled by a third-party certified electronics recycler – e-Loop, LLC.
The State Electronics Challenge assists state, regional, tribal, and local governments to reduce the environmental impact of their office equipment. It annually recognizes the accomplishments of Partner organizations. The Challenge is administered by the Northeast Recycling Council. Currently, 150 state, tribal, regional, and local government agencies, in 37 states, collectively employing more than 196,000 people, have joined the SEC as Partners.
For more information, visit the State Electronics Challenge website.
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