Students are back on campus and classes are about to begin for the Spring 2017 Semester! The onset of each spring semester (or winter as we call it in Rochester), marks the upcoming onset of the annual RecycleMania competition as well! UR has proudly participated in RecycleMania for more than a decade and is ready for another season.
What is RecycleMania you ask? Their official mission sums it up nicely:
“Using fair and friendly competition, RecycleMania provides tools and opportunities that inspire, empower, and mobilize colleges and universities to benchmark and improve efforts to reduce or eliminate waste.”
Hundreds of colleges across the United States and beyond, sign up each year, agreeing to track and report their data to the competition to be considered in the program. There are five different main categories; Grand Champion, Stephen K Gaski Per Capita Classic, Waste Minimization, Gorilla Prize and Targeted Materials. Each year the competition tries new additional categories as well, which are optional.
The competition also serves as a platform to promote recycling, waste reduction and other sustainability initiatives on campus. UR’s RecycleMania Planning Committee, engages various student groups who commonly share sustainability as a priority within their organizations, to organize promotional events and activities. The planning for this year’s committee was organized this fall by Facilities Team Green intern, Emma Briggs (pictured above). Emma was able to recruit the support of Grassroots, Chi O, DU, EcoReps, Chem E, Mech E, College Republicans, and Psi U, among others who will co-sponsor the main events.
As we bid farewell to Emma who will be studying abroad this semester in Copenhagen, we welcome back Facilities Team Green member Mariah Greico who has just returned from studying a semester in Spain and will now take over the planning committee leadership role. The group has four main events planned; a two-day Kick-off event, a symposium to highlight the EcoReps efforts, a Riverside Cleanup and a tour of the Cogen Power plant. They will also hold promotional events with free giveaways, such as tabling trivia and the “caught Green Handed” program in which students are caught and rewarded for their sustainable behaviors.
We will post all of the details as it all comes together! Preseason begins on January 22 and the competition is officially under from February 5 through April 1. For details visit recyclemaniacs.org.