Recyclemania is back again! This is PSU’s 5th year participating in the National Recycling Competition between colleges and universities. The competition will run from February 3rd to March 30th throughout campus through the efforts of Physical Plant, the Office of Environmental Sustainability and Residential Life.
We are in the first weeks of the 10 week competition, and we are encouraging all members of the campus community to make an extra effort to recycle. We record the weight of co-mingled recycling and trash collected each week, which is then entered into the national Recyclemania data sheet. Last year we participated in two categories of the competition, Gorilla Prize and Waste Minimization. In the Gorilla Prize competition, the school with the highest gross tonnage of recyclables wins. Last year we were 199th out of 296 schools in the Gorilla Prize category The Waste Minimization category focuses on the efforts to reduce waste generated by determining which school produces the least amount of waste, including both trash and recyclables, on a per person basis.. We were 59th out of 182 schools in this category.
This year we are participating in Gorilla Prize, Waste Minimization, Grand Champion, and Per Capita Classic categories of the competition. In the Grand Champion categories the total trash and recycling are combined to determine the school’s recycling rate. In the Per Capita Classic schools compete to see who can collect the most recycling on a per person basis. The winners of this competition will receive national recognition as well as the satisfaction of helping live in a more sustainable society. So, start recycling and let’s be #1 in the state this year!
What can you do to help? Simply take your recyclables to the recycling bins! There are large bins in all of the Resident halls and throughout campus building to make doing the right thing as easy as possible. If you have cardboard to recycle simply flatten it and place it behind recycling bins in your building. Finally, be sure only recyclable materials without waste in them go in recycling bins, as contamination with waster can result in processing plants rejecting recyclable materials.
If everyone does the simple task of recycling it will add up fast. The more people that participate, the better our school’s numbers are and the higher we rank, so let’s make green more than just our school color at Plymouth State University!
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