Recyclemania event begins on campus

by callie radke
staff writer

From the end of January until March 31, PLNU students will be joining more than 600 other schools, including the University of Arizona, Stanford University, Harvard University, Wheaton College and Duke University, in an effort to decrease trash and increase recycling by measuring how much waste and recycling is produced on campus in a competition called Recyclemania.
Recyclemania is a 10-week waste minimization competition between universities. The schools are ranked based on a variety of categories, such as who recycles the most on a per capita basis.
With the help of Waste Management Systems of San Diego, Sustain PLNU is weighing the campus’s trash and recyclables in an effort to raise awareness about recycling. Although PLNU won Recyclemania in 2006, the first year the school participated, the goal this year is not just to win but to encourage staff, students and faculty to be aware of the things that are thrown away and put into recycle bins, said Sustainability Lead Assistant Kyle Suess.
“All of our waste is going to the underground,” Suess said. “If we ruin that ground, we can’t have gardens on it, animals can’t live on it and water can’t run through it. This is a tangible way to combat that.”
The PLNU Sustainability program was created when PLNU joined the President’s Climate Commitment, a nationwide effort to reduce campus emissions at universities and colleges. The program, which includes hired students and staff, works to raise awareness about PLNU’s trash output.
Last year the group promoted “F Paper Towels February” and “Slug Mug March” to help decrease paper towel usage and paper coffee cup waste by using cloth towels and reusable coffee mugs. In 2010, the group piled a day’s worth of trash on a tarp outside of Prescott Prayer Chapel, titling the mound “Mt. Trashmore,” a display the group said it hopes to repeat this week.
Suess emphasized that the main goal of Recyclemania is to raise awareness through these campaigns.
“We’re not just a bunch of freaks who have a fanaticism for cardboard boxes and plastic items 1-7,” Suess said.
Students are already working to decrease waste by using reusable mugs and water bottles. Junior Hannah Ponek sports a reusable water bottle, complete with a recycling logo.
“Why would I use a whole bunch of different water bottles when I could just use one?” Ponek said.
The numbers from this year’s Recyclemania are still being processed since the competition is ongoing, but Suess said from Jan. 23 to April 2, 2011, the school produced 226,550 pounds of trash, not including food waste and recyclables. During the same time span, 52,720 pounds of recycling were produced.