RecycleMania 2007

Pennsylvania has most participating colleges

By SANDY LONG

NEW YORK AND PENNSYLVANIA — In the nationwide college and university recycling competition known as RecycleMania, Pennsylvania leads the pack this year, with 20 participating colleges. Next is the state of California, with 13 schools registered. Overall, 42 states, including the District of Columbia, are represented.

The 10-week friendly competition is held to see which schools can collect the most recyclables during a 10-week period from January 28 to April 7. The event, now in its seventh year, has caught on, with more than 200 schools signed up.

Twelve New York schools are participating as well, including SUNY New Paltz, whose first-time program is being implemented by recycling coordinator Alex Wojcik. “It’s been a really good excuse to get the message out for 10 weeks about the importance of recycling,” said Wojcik, who is assisted by student volunteers. “It’s an opportunity to be hands-on, to get our hands dirty and see what a difference it makes,” she added.

Wojcik enjoys seeing the reactions of the campus community to the program. “It’s really cool when we’re weighing the recyclables and students walk by and ask what we’re doing.” The project is focused on metals, glass and plastics with a neck. Paper and cardboard are also recycled. “We don’t have to be in first place,” said Wojcik. “Our goal is to raise awareness.”

Wilkes University, Wilkes-Barre, PA, is participating by recycling paper, cardboard, plastics and aluminum. An awareness-raising campaign is underway which includes an upcoming story in the college’s newspaper, an email campaign and the placement of posters around campus. In addition, more than 100 new recycling containers have been distributed around campus to encourage better sorting.

“RecycleMania is one of a number of initiatives to reduce the university’s waste stream,” said Christine Seitzinger, associate director of marketing communications from Wilkes University. Between 2004 and 2006, the college has seen an increase of eight percent in waste recycled. In 2006, 1.25 tons of “universal waste” (such as light bulbs, batteries and ballasts) were recycled, as well as 4.6 tons of electronic waste (computers and televisions).

Founded in 2001, the RecycleMania competition partnered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s WasteWise Program in 2004. The effort won the National Recycling Coalition’s Outstanding Recycling Innovation Award.

According to RecycleMania organizers, during the 2006 competition, participating schools recycled more than 18 million pounds of waste. These efforts are estimated to have decreased greenhouse gas emissions by 8,000 metric tons of carbon equivalent, which equates to the removal of more than 6,300 cars from the road for one year, the conservation of more than three million gallons of gasoline or elimination of annual emissions produced by the power consumption of more than 3,700 American households.

Visit www.recyclemania.org for more information or to follow the progression of the competition.