Can Ithaca College beat the Ivy League? On January 30, "RecycleMania" hits Ithaca College. Until April 9, the College will engage in friendly competition with 48 other colleges and universities across the country, including Harvard, Yale, and Dartmouth, to determine which school can recycle the most.
We will be competing as an entire campus so make sure you do your part and remember to recycle. The total amounts of material recycled from all campus buildings will be used to determine our standing.
RecyleMania has a short but active history. In 2001 Ohio University and Miami University began the competition to provide incentive for their schools to recycle. RecycleMania has grown ever since. In 2004, the RecycleManiacs joined with WasteWise program of the US Environmental Protection Agency gaining a website and technical assistance.
This is the first year Ithaca College will participate in RecycleMania. To kick off the ten-week event, REMP will be placing "Eco-People" in the lobbies of buildings across campus with information about RecycleMania attached to them. The Eco-People are life size men and women made from one hundred percent recyclable materials, and a little tape and glue.
To promote recycling throughout the competition, student interns of REMP will be monitoring tables in the Campus Center with stacks of "recycling pledges" waiting for student, staff, and faculty signatures. Once a person signs the pledge with genuine commitment, he or she becomes entered in a drawing to win one of three fabulous prizes.
Currently, IC has a 27 percent recycling rate for the materials that will be considered for RecycleMania, meaning recyclables comprise 27 percent of the waste stream. (The recycling rate is 47 percent when compost is included.)
The Resource and Environmental Management Program (REMP), the coalition of students, faculty, staff, and administrators coordinating RecycleMania at the College, aims to increase the rate to 50 percent through promotion of recycling during the competition.
For more information, follow the RecycleMania link at the website of REMP.
Contributed by Mark Darling
