Students are being encouraged to “see a bin, drop it in” this semester.

Central Michigan University is competing against 400 colleges nationwide unitl April 4 in “RecycleMania” – a competition to see which college collects the most recycled material.

CMU Campus Dining is partnering with Facilities Management for the program, said Shannon Springer, assistant marketing manager of Campus Dining.

“(RecycleMania is) a great program that uses friendly competition to raise awareness not only for the university’s recycling program, but of personal recycling habits as well,” Springer said.

CMU ranks third in the state and 92nd in the nation after recycling 30,508 pounds, or 1.19 pounds per person, from Jan. 27 through Feb. 2, according to the Web site recyclemania.com. Trophies, awards and participant certificates will be awarded to the top recycling schools after April 4.

The campus community is encouraged to fill the recycling receptacles located in academic and administrative buildings. Blue recycling tanks can be found outside residence halls and residential restaurants.

There also will be a table from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday at the Bovee University Center promoting RecycleMania, along with a place for students to bring their recyclables.

Eric Schulz, student volunteer for RecycleMania, believes the competition will help make CMU more sustainable.

“People want to recycle – they just don’t know where to,” the Royal Oak junior said.

Schulz said there already has been an increase in recycling bins across campus and he is pushing to have them in every residence hall room and kitchenette.

RecycleMania began as a competition in 2001 when a student from Ohio University and a student from Miami University felt something had to be done to increase recycling in the residence rooms and dining halls, according to recyclemania.com.

CMU joined the contest this year, competing in the “Per Capita Classic,” which calculates the weight of recyclables collected each week per student, faculty and staff members on campus.

“We have an inherent ability to act as environmental stewards for the greater good of Central Michigan University and the environment in general,” Springer said. “Recycling is one of the easiest steps with one of the greatest impacts.”

Kristi DePaul Ries, assistant director of media relations, said CMU is doing its part to become more of an environmentally-friendly campus.

“President (Michael) Rao has created a Campus Sustainability Advisory Committee to increase the university’s efforts in finding strategies to lessen CMU’s impact on the environment,” Ries said. “This committee will take an active role in assessing and identifying areas for improvement and implementing solutions.”

news@cm-life.com

E-mail the author: defaultuser