Green Mountain College in Poultney, Vt., will buy products upcycled from its own waste under a new sustainability initiative from Casella Waste Systems.

The Power of Three (P3) program, run with Foley Distributing and UGL Services, is a closed loop recycling initiative that helps companies target zero waste. The Green Mountain program, whose partners also include SCA Paper, will collect and process the college’s recyclable paper into new hand towels, tissue paper, and toiletry items.

All of the college’s paper, plastic, glass, and metal will be combined together in a single container and sent to Casella’s Zero-Sort processing facility in Rutland, Vt. Once sorted, the baled paper will travel 45 miles to the SCA plant in Glens Falls, N.Y., to be made into 100 percent recycled paper content products, which will then be delivered back to Green Mountain College by Foley Distributing and UGL Services, the companies said.

Businesses that have converted over to Zero-Sort typically save money on disposal costs and sorting, and are better able to streamlines their collection processes internally, Casella said.

Green Mountain College has what it calls a climate-neutral campus, and was named the second-greenest school in the country in 2011 by Sierra magazine.

(Source: www.environmentalleader.com )