Maryville College receives environmental sustainability grant from Arconic Foundation

June 16, 2022

Maryville College recently received a $60,000 grant from Arconic Foundation to enhance the recycling program on campus.

The grant will help Maryville College increase recycling awareness and opportunities with the goal of increasing recycling on campus and making recycling a higher priority at MC. Funding will allow for a revamped recycling program that includes a comprehensive and strategic education and marketing plan, as well as the purchase of recycling bins to place throughout campus.

“Maryville College is located in Southern Appalachia, one of the most biologically diverse regions on Earth. Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the crown jewel of the National Park Service, and Little River, designated by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation as an ‘Exceptional Tennessee Water,’ are just outside our windows,” said Dr. Jay Clark, director of environmental and sustainability initiatives, in the grant proposal. “While we are blessed with the natural beauty and learning opportunities that surround us, we appreciate the challenges of responsible environmental stewardship.

“As an institution of higher education, Maryville College strives to be an example of sustainability for our community and region,” the proposal continues. “An important component of being sustainable is recycling.”

The grant will allow for the purchase of enough recycling bins to have at least one strategically placed bin on every floor of every building on campus, in an effort to make recycling more convenient across campus. This includes 80-100 “basic” recycling containers, as well as 25-30 “designer” recycling containers, such as steel recycling/trash combination containers that include instructions on what to recycle.

Currently, the campus has a large dumpster for single-stream recycling that is picked up and weighed regularly by WestRock in Knoxville, Tennessee.

“We look forward to continuing our partnership with WestRock and appreciate their assistance with Maryville College’s recycling efforts,” Clark said.

While a large portion of the funding involves the purchase of recycling containers, the success of the program will rely heavily on the education and marketing strategy that will include assistance from Adrienne Schwarte, professor of design and coordinator of the Sustainability Studies minor at MC. Schwarte and her design students, who in the past have successfully developed educational and marketing materials for other sustainability-related projects on campus, will assist with the project and create posters, online content and design/branding for the “designer” recycling containers to educate the campus community about the importance of recycling and what items can be recycled.

“The educational and promotional components of our recycling program, along with increasing convenience and access to recycling containers, will be critical to the success of our recycling program at MC,” the proposal states.

The enhanced recycling program will be announced and promoted to the Maryville College campus community this fall.

The grant is one of 11 awarded to nonprofit organizations in Blount, Knox and Sevier counties to further education, environmental sustainability and social equity programs. Other organizations that received funding include Girls Inc., Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont, Alcoa City Schools, Pellissippi State Community College, Big Brothers Big Sisters of East Tennessee, Boys and Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley, Friends of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, United Way of Blount County, the Richard Williams Jr. Leadership Development Academy, and Tennessee College of Applied Technology (TCAT), Knoxville.

“Arconic Foundation is building on our long history of partnership in the region, working with both new and past nonprofit partners,” said Ryan Kish, Arconic Foundation president and treasurer. “We are grateful for the opportunity to support and work with these organizations that share our values, demonstrate a deep commitment to the community, and show innovation in their approaches to improving the lives of those they serve.”

Jeff Weida, Arconic operations plant manager, said that the company is “very excited to invest in programs through Arconic Foundation like the one at Maryville College to increase recycling efforts on campus.”

“These types of investment mirror our commitment to strengthen and grow the community in ways that will have measurable, long-term results,” Weida said.

About Arconic Foundation

Arconic Foundation partners with nonprofit and community organizations to strengthen its communities by enhancing education through skill-building learning experiences, promoting environmental sustainability, and advancing social equity. Arconic Foundation is independently endowed and invests in the communities of Arconic Corporation.

Maryville College is a nationally-ranked institution of higher learning and one of America’s oldest colleges. For more than 200 years we’ve educated students to be giving citizens and gifted leaders, to study everything, so that they are prepared for anything — to address any problem, engage with any audience and launch successful careers right away. Located in Maryville, Tennessee, between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the city of Knoxville, Maryville College offers nearly 1,200  students from around the world both the beauty of a rural setting and the advantages of an urban center, as well as more than 60 majors, seven pre-professional programs and career preparation from their first day on campus to their last. Today, our 10,000 alumni are living life strong of mind and brave of heart and are prepared, in the words of our Presbyterian founder, to “do good on the largest possible scale.”