USU falling short in RecycleMania
Brigham Young University recycles a higher percentage of materials per person than Utah State University, but Aggies produce less trash, according to early data submitted in the national RecycleMania competition.
The competition, which runs Feb. 6 through April 2, is between 630 schools from 49 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada. Colleges and universities are competing in nine categories to see who can recycle the most on a per capita basis, or per person. Other categories include reducing waste and seeing who can recycle the most of that waste percentage-wise.
Lisa Tobias, education recycling coordinator for USU’s recycling center, said although USU is a part of the national competition, she is focusing on beating BYU and the University of Utah this year.
“So far we’re losing,” Tobias said.
According to data submitted to RecycleMania’s website two weeks prior to the competition, USU generated 1.36 pounds of recycling per person in that two weeks, and BYU recycled more than double that number. The University of Utah’s data was unavailable on the competition’s website.
Despite recycling less than other schools, USU is doing well at reducing waste. BYU reported 10.47 pounds of waste per person in the early reporting period, and USU reported 6.71 pounds per person. The university is producing about 10,000-20,000 pounds less trash a week than last year, Tobias said.
This year, the Recyclemania planners added a new competition. In addition to competing for Grand Champion or leader in one of the other recycling or waste reduction categories, schools could submit a one minute video about recycling. RecycleMania will judge the 10 best videos and post them on Facebook March 11-April 4. The video with the most “likes” wins $500 and a prize package.
“We have a pretty good chance of winning,” Tobias said of the video she helped make for the competition. “It’s pretty cute.”
Tobias is still coming up with creative ways and slogans to get students to recycle more. She’s handing out pins that say “Nice Trash” to promote recycling, and posters are on the Aggie Shuttles that read, “Oh say, can you recycle?”
“I thought about making posters to go on the bins in the Institute that say, ‘Did you CTR today? Choose to recycle,'” she said.
The Recycle Olympics will be held in the Fieldhouse on March 18. Tobias said activities will probably include newspaper basketball, a hockey game of cardboard sticks with a can as the puck, flag football, and a relay race.
Dorms play a part in RecycleMania by competing against each other, Tobias said. Apartments under each resident assistant are competing against each other for a catered dinner. They can participate in various recycling activities to earn points. Volunteering at the recycling center is worth 10 points, and five points is rewarded for every time a recycling bin is filled and emptied.
Tobias said there will be photographers to catch students in the act of recycling. Those who get their pictures taken will be entered for a chance to win prizes. Pictures will be posted April 24 and 25 in the TSC.
“I’m trying to find some volunteers to be paparazzi,” Tobias said.
A separate competition is going on at the same time as RecycleMania between Pine View, Old Farm, and Oakridge apartments. Heather Jones and Amelia Hodges, both juniors in biology and members of the sustainability council, said they wanted to do a competition for some of the 800 East apartments since most students live off campus. The winning apartment complex gets a dance party, where prize drawings will be held.
Hodges said repetition is an important way to get in the habit of recycling, and it’s a habit many students are still learning. In doing research they discovered that many people did not know they have recycling bins outside their complex.
“We’d talk to people and they’d be like, ‘Oh, that’s what the blue bin is,” Jones said.
Recycling is simple, especially if students put a bin just for recycling by their garbage can, Jones said.
“It’s super easy to say, ‘I just drank this Pepsi. I’m going to put it in the blue bin,” Hodges said.
Knowing not just how to recycle, but what to recycle, is important as well. Hodges said Logan City donated magnets that detail what is recyclable for the apartments in the competition.
Tobias said a lot of the items donated to the USU recycling center cannot be recycled. The best way to know whether a container is recyclable is to look for the recycle symbol, Tobias said.
– la.stewart@aggiemail.usu.edu