Elon began its involvement in RecycleMania, a 10-week nationwide recycling competition, Sunday at Varsity.

Tuesday morning at college coffee in Moseley, WSOE hosted the competition’s official kickoff with free T-shirts for students who used the recycle bin in the atrium.

This year more than 200 schools will compete to collect the most recyclables in pounds per capita. Elon’s targeted materials include glass, aluminum, plastics and cardboard.

Manager of Environmental Service, David Worden stumbled upon the RecycleMania Web site about a year ago and decided to get Elon involved in the competition.

“Since I have been here, recycling has been in the forefront of [programs] needing improvement,” Worden said. “It’s a neat venue to showcase recycling, create awareness, lower waste and create some kind of sustainability.”

Each week, all participating schools post results of their weigh-ins in pounds on the RecycleMania Web site.

The Environmental Protection Agency will recognize the school that collects the most recyclables by the end of the 10-week period and award them a trophy made from recycled materials.

The main goal of the competition, as stated on its Web site, is to, “increase student awareness of campus recycling and waste minimization.”

College campuses tend to produce a lot of waste and this competition aims to show students and faculty members the importance of recycling.

Worden emphasized the importance of internal competition in relation to this problem.
“We compete against ourselves,” he said. “We can take this to another level.”

There are more than 200 locations on campus to recycle. In most classrooms there are bins with a green tops with two holes for bottles and cans. Residence halls also have recycle bins.

Republic Waste and Federal Waste- the two companies that routinely pick up waste from campus- will weigh Elon’s recyclables weekly.

Physical plant will weigh the recyclables collected from internal competitions held by Residence Life or Greek Life.

“Even if you aren’t sure [if something is recyclable], throw it in. It will be sorted,” said David Hibbard, director of the news bureau and coordinator of PR and media for RecycleMania at Elon.
“The great thing about this competition is it’s not as much about the prize as it is the cause,” said Nicole Dvorak, student coordinator of RecycleMania.

“We’re competing on a level we don’t in many areas. [Participating] schools have been sharing promotion. [Schools] are competing, but also cooperating.”

Residence Life has already started internal recycling competitions to assist with RecycleMania, including a recyclable sculpture contest. Greek Life plans to host internal competitions as well.

Be sure to check out how Elon stacks up to other schools each week at recyclemaniacs.org or org.elon.edu/recyclemania/.

News Editor: Kaitlin Ugolik - 02/08/07