College of the Atlantic began an annual audit of its discarded items in 2014, in which the waste's potential use beyond trash such as compost or recycling is evaluated.College of the Atlantic began an annual audit of its discarded items in 2014, in which the waste's potential use beyond trash such as compost or recycling is evaluated.

BAR HARBOR, Maine — Every fall, one week’s worth of trash and recycling generated at the College of the Atlantic is collected, sorted and displayed under a tent on the school’s North Lawn so students and others can learn more about what they’re throwing away.

Amongst the fruit flies and the small mountains of flattened cardboard boxes from Amazon orders, work-study students armed with plastic gloves and a good attitude noted this season that their classmates seem to be changing their approach to trash.

In 2014, when the annual discarded resources audit began, trash made up 55 percent of the material collected, or 1,151 pounds. Last year, the trash collected made up nearly 40 percent of the material, or 930 pounds. And that decline continued this fall, with trash making up just 30 percent of the collected material, or 577 pounds. That decline is great news for Lisa Bjerke, the school’s discarded resources manager and self-proclaimed “garbologist.”

“We’re super happy about the diversion [or recycling] rate climbing,” she said on Friday. “We think it has to do with infrastructure, better signage, better bins and better access. Everyone wants to do the right thing. It just has to be easy to do the right thing.”

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