What is Recyclemania?
RecycleMania is a 10 week long competition where colleges and universities across the country aim to promote recycling (bottles, paper, cardboard etc) and waste reduction. The competition began on January 28, 2007 and will continue until April 7, 2007.
How is Mount Holyoke participating in Recyclemania?
RecycleMania is composed of two competitions. The ‘per capita classic’ ranks schools according to the amount recycled, in pounds per person. ‘The Waste Minimization’ competition, which is a new addition this year, will award schools which produce the least amount of waste. This waste consists of both trash which goes to the landfill as well as recyclable materials which otherwise could have been recycled. Through this competition, we encourage students to reduce their use of resources, reuse the resources that they can, and recycle recyclable materials instead of sending them to the landfill as waste. The grand champion of RecycleMania will be the school which excels in both the Per Capita Classic and the Waste Management competitions.
In 2005 Mount Holyoke Ranked 7th overall in the Per Capita competition and this year we aim to do even better! Amherst College and UMass Amherst are among the colleges in the Pioneer Valley that are participating in RecycleMania this year.
Also, Mount Holyoke has added its own twist to Recyclemania by initiating an inter-dorm competition to see which residence hall is recycling the most per capita in this 10 week period. Last year, the winning dorms were Prospect and Pearson’s Annex. This year, the winning dorm at the end of the 10 weeks will win an ice-cream party with locally made Bart’s ice-cream; an incentive which we hope will make it a priority to step up the recycling. Each week, ECO-reps and volunteers will be counting the volume recycled in each dorm. The volumes will then be turned into weight and calculated as pounds per resident. The dorm with the greatest amount of recyclables per resident will, for that week, proudly host the magnificent trash trophy that has been exclusively created for this event. Be sure to encourage your fellow dorm mates to separate recyclable material from their trash and deposit it in the correct bins. Also, remember that reducing the amount of waste overall is important for RecycleMania, of course, but most importantly for the environment; don’t forget to recycle even the smaller objects such as batteries, printer ink cartridges, and electronics.
Look out for facts on your dining hall white boards for facts about Recycling, RecycleMania and MHC’s progress. MHC news will also carry regular updates. ECO-reps have posted informational materials and created a trifold that is in the library that contains relevant facts and information about recycling and waste reduction on our campus. You can also find out more information about being environmentally responsible at the Environmental Stewardship website that will be updated regularly during the months of Recyclemania.
