Univ. gains in amount recycled

After 10 weeks of reducing, reusing and recycling, Recyclemania 2008 came to a close with the university showing modest improvements compared to last year and already planning new strategies for next year's competition.

The nationwide recycling and conservation competition pit 400 colleges and universities against one another in an effort to promote eco-consciousness on campuses throughout the country. The university garnered first place in the state, while placing 55th nationally in the all-around, or "Grand Champion," category.

"We were doing really great in the state," said Maria Lonsbury, a university project specialist who helped bring Recyclemania to the campus. "But nationally, and in the ACC, we knew we could do much better."

The university was not included in the Grand Champion category last year because it did not recycle all of the necessary materials.

In the recycling per capita category, in which the weight of the university's recycled items is divided by the campus population, the university ranked 77th nationwide this year, up from 90th the year before.

Kalamazoo College in Michigan took first place in the Grand Champion divisions. Since the competition's inception in 2001, about 58.6 million pounds of waste have been recycled, according to their website.

The most notable improvement made by the university compared to last year was more than 11 percent increase in the amount of recycling per week, which rose from 56,101 pounds to 62,286 pounds, according to documents obtained from Resident Life. The documents also said the amount of trash generated on the campus dropped throughout the competition to 241,261 pounds of trash per week at the end of this year's competition from 303,440 pounds per week at the start.

Organizers went on a "recycle walk" in February to assess the campus recycling efforts and found several stumbling blocks. They ran into incorrectly marked recycling receptacles in some areas and none in others. Organizers added that many students simply did not go through the trouble of recycling.

"We saw a need for more containers more accurately placed," Lonsbury said. "If you don't have a recycling bin next to you and have a glass bottle in your hand, walk the extra 20 feet [to recycle]."

Cindy Felice, an associate director in the department of resident life, and Lonsbury partnered in order to bring the competition to the university and said this year's results are "promising."

"The fact that we did better than we did in the previous year, that shows that the campus community, students, faculty and staff continue to invest in recycling and waste minimization," Felice said. "It also shows there's a lot more we could be doing."

Both organizers plan on asking institutions such as the University of North Carolina and Boston College, historically successful recyclers, for advice before next year's competition. They also hope to increase student involvement, especially through the Climate Action Plan Work Group, a team of students, staff and faculty charged with making the campus more eco-friendly.

Joanna Calabrese, a Recyclemania student coordinator, and Sandra Dykes, of an assistant director in facilities management, plan on conducting a recycling inventory, which will show the amount of recycling going on in 65 of the campus' busiest buildings. They hope the report will be done before next year so the university can assess which areas on the campus need improvement.

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