10-Week Contest Promotes Recycling

Kate King

Issue date: 2/1/08

Media Credit: Nick Hart Amy McCullough (Left) and Kathy Taft were awarded a gift certificate for tea-for-two at the Benton Museum yesterday when they were 'caught green-handed' recycling as part of Recyclemania.

Recycling will take on a competitive edge over the next 10 weeks as UConn participates in Recyclemania, a nationwide competition designed to encourage recycling on college and university campuses.

The competition was organized at UConn by EcoHusky and the Office of Environmental Policy (OEP), according to Dan Britton, sustainability coordinator for OEP. The event kicked off on Sunday, Jan. 27 and will continue until April 5.

UConn also hopes to recycle 600 tons during Recyclemania, Britton said. This would be a 200 ton increase from the same 10-week period in 2007.

The goal of Recyclemania at UConn is "to raise awareness about recycling … we figured a competition is the best way to get people involved," said Alysse Lembo, a 6th-semester natural resource major with a concentration in environmental conservation and EcoHusky co-president and OEP intern.

Recyclemania began in 2001 when Ohio University and Miami University competed for 10 weeks to see which school could recycle the most, according to the Recyclemania Web site. Over the past seven years, the competition has spread across the country with over 400 colleges and universities participating in the 2008 contest.

UConn is competing against six other schools within Connecticut, according to the Web site. These include Connecticut College, Southern Connecticut State University, the United States Coast Guard Academy, the University of Hartford, Wesleyan University and Yale University. UConn's goal is to recycle more than Yale University, Britton said.

Within Recyclemania, UConn is participating in two competitions, according to Britton. The Per Capita Classic measures how much each school recycles based on its population. To find this number, Reyclemania will divide the weight of recyclables from UConn by its population of about 24,000, Britton said. This population number includes 20,000 students, both undergraduate and graduate and 4,000 faculty and staff members.

Participation in the Per Capita Classic also makes UConn eligible to compete in the Gorilla Prize, according to Britton. This competition measures the gross tonnage of recycling from each school, regardless of population.

The OEP will track UConn's progress during Recyclemania by compiling weekly tonnage reports using data provided by UConn's trash disposal provider, Willimantic Waste Paper Company.

Recyclemania is a friendly competition and awards no monetary prizes, according to a Recyclemania spokesperson. The school that wins the Per Capita Classic competition will receive a metal trophy that it can keep for a year, however.

"The great thing about this competition is that if any person recycles a can or a piece of paper they are participating, they are making a direct impact, every little bit really does help…everyone has the chance to be part of the movement towards a more sustainable campus," said Mark Filippi, a 4th-semester pre-teaching for secondary earth science, a volunteer for Campus Climate Challenge and a volunteer for EcoHusky, in an e-mail.

Britton hopes that Recyclemania will continue the already rising trend of recycling at UConn. In 2007, UConn recycled 248 more tons of cardboard, paper, scrap metal, bottles and cans than in 2006, a 28 percent increase.

New recycling bins placed around campus last March were a major factor contributing to this increase, according to Britton. The OEP compared tonnage figures from April to December 2007, after the new bins were introduced, to see how recycling was affected. Over the 8 month period, UConn recycled about 109 tons of paper, bottles and cans more than during the same period in 2006, Britton said. This is a 23 percent increase and equates to about $9,300 in savings for the university.

These savings were found by determining how much UConn saves on trash disposal expenses, according to Britton. UConn uses Willimantic Waste Paper Company for its trash and removal service. UConn pays Willimantic Waste $65 per ton for trash disposal while the company pays UConn $20 per ton of recycling it picks it up.

"Every time we recycle we save $85," Britton said.

EcoHusky and OEP plan to hang posters describing recycling dos and don'ts around campus during Recyclemania.

"You can recycle almost everything if you think about it a little," Britton said.

One key element of recycling that students often don't think about is waste reduction, according to Britton. Students can reduce personal waste by using reusable water bottles, double-sided paper and reusable coffee mugs.


Contact Kate King at Katherine.King@UConn.edu.