Residence Halls pair up for national ‘Recyclemania’ competition

Josh Visnaw

Students are recycling with hopes of winning FLEX Dollars and pizza.

Residence Life and Facilities Management are working together to run a recycling contest that began Nov. 1 and ends Dec. 12.

Joan Schmidt, the associate director of Residence Life, said each of the 22 residence halls have been divided into pairs of teams.

The residents of the winning pair will receive $15 of Campus Dining Flex Dollars. Further, one floor in the East Quad, South Quad, North Quad and The Towers complexes will win a pizza party.

“Everyone is participating because it’s the right thing to do,” Schmidt said. “The rewards just get people’s attention.”

Schmidt said the halls were paired to help keep the contest fair because some halls already were recycling more than others.

The contest runs in two parts. The departments are using the first three weeks to determine how many pounds of material per resident each hall recycles.

The second part measures how much each hall increased recycling.

Lindsay Allen, associate director of media relations, said Fabiano and Celani Halls led during the first few weeks.

The two halls recycled 1.46 tons and averaged 6.56 pounds per resident, an increase of 1.96 pounds per resident since the end of October.

Robinson and Calkins Halls are second at a .54 pound increase per resident, and Thorpe and Sweeney Halls held third with a .53 pound increase.

Jay Kahn, director of Facilities Operations, said the purpose of the contest is to raise recycling awareness for the university’s participation in the national “Recyclemania” contest in January.

Kahn said the university recycled 456 tons in 2007, and has already recycled 432 tons this year.

“Stay tuned – I think we’ll go over 500 tons,” Kahn said.

The university produced 187 tons of solid waste and recycled another 57 tons in October, a total of 244 tons, Kahn said.

This means the university is recycling 23 percent of its total waste, 11 percent lower than the national average, Kahn said.

“We’re doing well,” Kahn said. “We’re doing better than we had been. But there’s always room for improvement.”

Kahn said he feels a good goal for the university would be to recycle 40 percent of its waste.

He said this is the first time the university has held the recycling contest, though it has participated in “Recyclemania” in previous years.

Kahn is optimistic about the contest’s impact on the university.

“The students we’re seeing at the university right now are more aware of the environment than four years ago,” Kahn said.

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