Mania Hits USU — RecycleMania

Utah State University is participating in a national competition — RecycleMania — a competition that focuses on generating attention and support for campus recycling programs and to motivate students and staff to increase recycling efforts and reduce waste generation.

RecycleMania is a friendly competition and benchmarking tool for college and university recycling programs. During the eight-week competition traditionally held each spring, colleges and universities across the United States and Canada report the amount of recycling and trash collected each week. Reports are submitted and the schools are then ranked in various categories based on who recycles the most on a per capita basis and what schools have the best recycling rate as a percentage of total waste and, finally, what schools generate the least amount of combined trash and recycling.

With each week’s updated rankings, participating schools can follow their performance against others.

USU’s efforts are coordinated by the USU Recycling Center and by Ryan Reese, USU Recycling Student Involvement leader, who participated in the 2012 RecycleMania kickoff activities in Salt Lake City. Student representatives from across the state met to kick off the competition.

“We hope to show students that recycling is not only needed but it can be fun,” Reese said. “We’ve planned a number of activities to highlight the efforts.”

Activities at USU began Feb. 9 when a trailer filled with bales of recycling materials was parked outside the Taggart Student Center. The trailer provided a visual background as information about recycling and the competition were distributed. The Aggies were encouraged to approach the competition with a goal — to beat BYU!

Additional activities are planned in March, including the “Recycle Olympics” March 5 at the TSC International Lounge from 6-8 p.m., with a number of games. Prizes for winning teams include recycled soccer balls. There’s a movie night March 6 with “Schoolhouse Rock,” 7-8:30 p.m. at HPER 118. The activity is free.

A “Design a Bin” competition is March 16-23, and students are encouraged to form teams to redesign a grey recycling bin in an eye-catching way.

“We’ve had 40 or so grey recycling bins donated to USU,” Reese said. “But, people don’t see grey as a ‘recycle color’ so we want the teams to come up with innovative designs incorporating a recycling blue color.”

The teams can sign up at USU’s Recycling Center north of Romney Stadium (870 E. 1250 North) and pick up their bin.

A concert will cap activities March 21 where the bands The Old World and F Dragon will perform at the Lundstrom Student Living Center from 7-9 p.m.

USU has blue recycling containers across campus. Large containers are placed in most public areas, but departments and offices have containers as well that are emptied by Recycling Center employees.

“We encourage everyone to recycle everything they can,” Reese said. “RecycleMania provides the added element of competition and awareness, but we should work year-round to keep recyclables out of the trash can. Everyone can play a part. Put that copy of the ‘Statesman’ in the blue bin or recycle your multiple copies of computer printouts. Let’s beat BYU.”

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Contact: Ryan Reese, recyclingreese@gmail.com