Concord, NH – Starting with a bare half dozen Massachusetts colleges in 2000, the Institution Recycling Network (IRN) has grown to be a nationwide presence in recycling with more than 100 projects completed and an average reuse and recycling rate over 95%. IRN has shipped more than 20 million pounds of surplus furniture and equipment from schools, hospitals, and businesses to disaster relief and economic development projects on five continents and 20 U.S. states. IRN’s OneStop program makes it possible to maximize the economic and environmental benefits of recycling while offering the convenience of recycling a half dozen or more materials on a single truck.
IRN was founded at the suggestion of a small group of college recyclers including Bob Dombkowski from Smith College, Mike Lyons from Boston University, Terry Pellerin from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and the late Butch Michitson of Northeastern. Responding to a series of education conferences organized by IRN founders Dana Draper and Mark Lennon, this group suggested the idea of a college recycling cooperative. Draper and Lennon founded IRN as a small pilot operation under the wing of their larger consultancy. By 2004 the offspring had nearly eclipsed the parent. Today IRN colleges and universities include most of the student population in Massachusetts, and IRN has completed projects of one sort or another in 32 states.