Ryan Stone
2/24/10
Masc. 303
Recyclemania
Recyclemania at VCU
By Ryan Stone
This year Virginia Commonwealth University will again compete in the yearly event Recyclemania, hoping to finish first rather than third place like last year.
Last year VCU was ranked 120 out of the 510 schools that competed. Statistics for Recyclemania are based on per capita by how much each student recycles and the size of the school. In last year’s competition the university recycled 12.57 pounds per student, that’s a total of 405, 810 pounds of trash. Last year was also VCU’s first full year participating in the competition.
The goals of Recyclemania as listed on the website, http://www.recyclemania.org/, are:
· Have a fair and friendly recycling competition.
· Increase recycling participation by students and staff.
· Heighten awareness of schools’ waste management and recycling programs.
· Expand economic opportunities while addressing environmental issues in a positive way.
· Lower waste generated on-campus by reducing, reusing, and recycling.
· Have the competition act as a catalyst for colleges and universities to build and expand waste reduction programs on campus.
Recyclemania has become more popular each year since it started in 2001. The first year there were only two schools competing Miami University and Ohio University. Since 2007 the number of schools competing has grown by over 400 schools. They even have over 100 more schools competing from last year’s Recyclemania.
The reason why Recyclemania was started is because colleges are small areas that tend to produce a lot of solid waste. Recyclemania allows recycling coordinators to get their campus involved in recycling in a friendly way. In Recyclemania’s past surveys they have seen that 80 percent of schools that participate had increases in recycling during the competition.
This year VCU is one of 607 schools, universities and colleges taking part in Recyclemania. There are 21 schools from Virginia taking part in Recyclemania. 382 of the schools are taking part in the Competition Division and 225 schools are taking part in the Benchmark Division. The Benchmark Division is not a competitive division and it does not have placement or official rankings. There are eight divisions inside of the Competition Division.
This year so far VCU ranks 116 out of 264 schools in the Grand Champion division. They rank 143 out of 343 schools in the Per Capita division. They also rank 86 out of 197 schools in the Waste Minimization division.
However Heinitz does think that Recyclemania has made VCU students more aware of recycling.
“I think Recyclemania has raised a lot of awareness thus far based on the large number of requests that we have received for new recycling containers and questions about the VCU Recycling Program,” said Heinitz.
However there is room for improvement according to VCU’s Recycling Coordinator Steve Heinitz.
“In order to keep improving our ranking in Recyclemania VCU needs to have a Waste Minimization Program in place to help faculty, staff and students reduce the amount of waste that they generate up front. With the three R's of Recycling Reducing the amount of waste we generate is number one, then Reuse materials is number two and then Recycling is the third Option before items should ever be placed in the trash,” said Heinitz. “We need to better a job of educating the Faculty, Staff and Students at VCU to use the three R's so they can assist VCU in minimizing the amount of waste we generate.”
Picture from google images
Sources: Steve Heinitz, VCU Recycling coordinator, srheinit@vcu.edu
Jordan Starbuck, Recyclemania coordinator at VCU, starbuckje@vcu.edu
2/24/10
Masc. 303
Recyclemania
Recyclemania at VCU
By Ryan Stone
This year Virginia Commonwealth University will again compete in the yearly event Recyclemania, hoping to finish first rather than third place like last year.
Last year VCU was ranked 120 out of the 510 schools that competed. Statistics for Recyclemania are based on per capita by how much each student recycles and the size of the school. In last year’s competition the university recycled 12.57 pounds per student, that’s a total of 405, 810 pounds of trash. Last year was also VCU’s first full year participating in the competition.
The goals of Recyclemania as listed on the website, http://www.recyclemania.org/, are:
· Have a fair and friendly recycling competition.
· Increase recycling participation by students and staff.
· Heighten awareness of schools’ waste management and recycling programs.
· Expand economic opportunities while addressing environmental issues in a positive way.
· Lower waste generated on-campus by reducing, reusing, and recycling.
· Have the competition act as a catalyst for colleges and universities to build and expand waste reduction programs on campus.
Recyclemania has become more popular each year since it started in 2001. The first year there were only two schools competing Miami University and Ohio University. Since 2007 the number of schools competing has grown by over 400 schools. They even have over 100 more schools competing from last year’s Recyclemania.
The reason why Recyclemania was started is because colleges are small areas that tend to produce a lot of solid waste. Recyclemania allows recycling coordinators to get their campus involved in recycling in a friendly way. In Recyclemania’s past surveys they have seen that 80 percent of schools that participate had increases in recycling during the competition.
This year VCU is one of 607 schools, universities and colleges taking part in Recyclemania. There are 21 schools from Virginia taking part in Recyclemania. 382 of the schools are taking part in the Competition Division and 225 schools are taking part in the Benchmark Division. The Benchmark Division is not a competitive division and it does not have placement or official rankings. There are eight divisions inside of the Competition Division.
This year so far VCU ranks 116 out of 264 schools in the Grand Champion division. They rank 143 out of 343 schools in the Per Capita division. They also rank 86 out of 197 schools in the Waste Minimization division.
However Heinitz does think that Recyclemania has made VCU students more aware of recycling.
“I think Recyclemania has raised a lot of awareness thus far based on the large number of requests that we have received for new recycling containers and questions about the VCU Recycling Program,” said Heinitz.
However there is room for improvement according to VCU’s Recycling Coordinator Steve Heinitz.
“In order to keep improving our ranking in Recyclemania VCU needs to have a Waste Minimization Program in place to help faculty, staff and students reduce the amount of waste that they generate up front. With the three R's of Recycling Reducing the amount of waste we generate is number one, then Reuse materials is number two and then Recycling is the third Option before items should ever be placed in the trash,” said Heinitz. “We need to better a job of educating the Faculty, Staff and Students at VCU to use the three R's so they can assist VCU in minimizing the amount of waste we generate.”
Picture from google images
Sources: Steve Heinitz, VCU Recycling coordinator, srheinit@vcu.edu
Jordan Starbuck, Recyclemania coordinator at VCU, starbuckje@vcu.edu
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