Contest promotes recycling on campus
USU is participating in “RecycleMania,” a competition to determine which university in the nation and which in each state recycles the most.
“Each student probably thinks to themselves, ‘What can I do here on campus to make a difference?’ and this is definitely a way that they can make a difference,” said Ryan Reese, student educational coordinator for the Recycling Center.
“Basically, it’s a fun way to promote recycling on campus,” he said.
During an eight-week period every spring, participating universities measure the weight of waste disposed of and the weight of matter to be recycled every week. That number is reported to a campus coordinator who then updates the university’s weekly standings online. Universities are ranked in several categories, including weight of trash recycled per capita and the weight of recycled trash compared to the amount going to the landfill.
According to the RecycleMania website, “Winning schools receive an award made out of recyclable materials and win the right to host that category’s special traveling trophy for the coming year.”
Reese, who is also a student involvement leader overseeing the event, said close to 600 universities throughout the world are participating in the competition to see how much waste they can reduce. This year, for the first time in its competition history, USU is competing against other Utah colleges for a state title. Though the competition is at its midway point, he said, students can still participate, make a difference and potentially help USU win the award.
Amelia Hodges, a member of Students for Sustainability, said, “Primarily what we’ve been working on is creating events and awareness for RecycleMania, because we’ve been competing in the RecycleMania competition for years, but a lot of students don’t realize it.”
The biggest goal is to beat University of Utah and BYU in waste-reduction numbers, she said.
Skylar Caldwell, a freshman in the aviation professional pilot program, said he already recycles, but a competition might encourage him to recycle more.
“If it means beating BYU, if they’re a school we’re up against, then I’ll do it more,” Caldwell said.
Starting March 24, he said, groups of five to 15 students can participate in a Design a Bin competition. The university was given 40 gray bins during the Olympics that have mainly gone unused, he said, and students don’t recognize them as recycle bins. Students can sign up to decorate one with their own supplies. Anyone can participate by contacting the recycling center or Reese at the email: recyclingreese@gmail.com.
Erin Jones, a senior studying fisheries and aquatic sciences, said she found out about RecycleMania because she’s a student in the College of Natural Resources and she saw promotions for the competition there. Jones said she’d like USU to win because it would show the school is commitment to helping the environment.
Jones said she sees recycling as important because of the growth of communities like Cache Valley.
“Right now, we have enough landfill space, that we can fill it up with the trash that we want to,” Jones said. “But as Cache County continues to expand, as the population of Utah, these urban and suburban areas continue to grow, we’re producing more trash. At some point, we’ll really have to think about alternatives to the way we’re living and the unsustainable lifestyles that we have.”
The contest is also a great way to get club names publicized, Reese said.
“For example, if a club wanted to design a bin, they could just write their name on it and then ‘RecycleMania 2012′,” Reese said.
The designs cannot be offensive and teams must have a Utah State recycling sticker on their bin for it to qualify. All entries are due by March 31st at 4:30 p.m., and the winning team will receive a free meal at Café Rio.
A recycling competition between residence halls is also underway, Reese said.
Reese said the residence hall competition is “kind of a points system, in that if they clean out a recycle bin, they get a certain amount of points, or if they recycle a whole can of something, they get an amount of points and they talk to the RAs. Their RAs will keep track of their points and send those points to me.”
Reese said the individual competitions aren’t a part of RecycleMania, but they’re a way for the university to encourage and promote recycling.
At the end of March, Reese said the organization will host a free concert with F Dragon and other bands on campus.
“Even if we don’t win, what we want to do is increase awareness, have students think more about what they can do,” he said.
Earlier this month, representatives from the Recycling Center and Students for Sustainability held recycling Olympics and a viewing of the movie “Schoolhouse Rock.”
Both Reese and Hodges said that overall, they hope the RecycleMania events raise student awareness and encourage students to take a more conscientious role in their disposal efforts.
“The biggest thing that we really have been trying to push is that if you have something that’s recyclable and you don’t see a blue bin right away, hang on to it just for a few minutes until you can find one,” Hodges said. “There are recycling bins in pretty much all the buildings on campus, and so you can wait ten seconds to get into a building to put your can or your bottle into a recycling bin instead of throwing it away.”
Reese said, “Just doing little things like putting a can in a recycling bin would definitely make a difference. If everyone had that mindset, we would be successful in RecycleMania. So just try to learn more about it, try to enjoy it, and try to have fun at the same time.”
Interested students can contact the recycling center or Reese for more information.
– ariwrees@gmail.com