What Is RecycleMania?

RecycleMania is a friendly competition among college and university recycling programs in the United States that provides the campus community with a fun, proactive activity in waste reduction. Over a 10-week period, campuses compete in different contests to see which institution can collect the largest amount of recyclables per capita, the largest amount of total recyclables, the least amount of trash per capita, or have the highest recycling rate.

The main goal of this event is to increase student awareness of campus recycling and waste minimization. All participating schools are required to report measurements on a weekly basis in pounds. RecycleMania provides many ways to gain recognition, including RecycleMania trophies, awards, and participant certificates.

In the end, RecycleMania helps all participating colleges and universities make achievements in recycling and waste reduction!

Overall Goals for RecycleMania

1. Have a fair and friendly recycling competition.
   
    
2. Increase recycling participation by students and staff.
   
    
3. Heighten awareness of schools' waste management and recycling programs.
   
    
4. Expand economic opportunities while addressing environmental issues in a positive way.
   
    
5. Lower waste generated on-campus by reducing, reusing and recycling.
   
    
6. Organize this event successfully so it can be repeated and possibly expanded to other campuses in the future.
    

Why Is There a Need for RecycleMania?

A number of universities across the United States have successfully operated waste management and recycling programs for more than 10 years. The universities participating in this competition boast some of the highest recycling and waste diversion rates in the country. Despite their recycling successes, certain on-campus facilities tend to produce most of campus waste. In particular, residence halls and dinning halls have been the largest producers of campus waste—from 30 to 70 percent of campus trash. Data from waste audits conducted at these buildings suggest that up to half of all residence hall trash is recyclable. RecycleMania began as an effort to recycle more waste from campus residential areas. As the competition evolved, it expanded to allow colleges to participate with only their residential areas or to expand their scope to include the entire campus.

What do we recycle at Western?

Cardboard: Collected each day from around campus. Bundled into 48” bales each weighing approximately 500 lbs. We have them picked up by Asheville Waste Paper and they give us ½ of the revenue they make. Since this has been in place, from Sept. 2003 to the present, we have made 922 bales of cardboard weighing approx. 456,390 lbs. and we have made over $9000. But more importantly we have kept 228 tons of cardboard out of the waste stream saving the university over $18,000 in disposal fees.

Paper: We rent two 20 yard roll-off containers from GDS. One of the containers is always located by the far loading dock of the Print Shop. The paper is collected by our housekeeping staff and put in bags and taken to the designated spot for pickup in each building. It may seem like they are just disposing of it but in fact they are separating the paper from the trash. It takes a lot of effort to keep it separated and our housekeeping staff deserve a pat on the back for taking the time to keep it separated. When the containers are full we contact GDS and they take the containers to the Mineral Springs Transfer station where it is mixed with the paper collected from the SRC’s (staffed recycling centers) in Jackson County. When there is enough to fill a semi trailer the paper is loaded and taken to Greenville, SC. This year alone we have taken 13 loads of paper away. Each load weighs over 5 tons. This has kept 65 tons of paper out of the landfill and saved WCU over $5,800 in disposal costs.

Glass, Plastic & Aluminum: It can be commingled! As some of you may have noticed, we are in the process of putting new labels on all of the blue containers located in various locations around campus. We can now put not only cans in them but also glass (any color), plastic #1 or #2 only, and all metal cans. There has been some concern about not being able to have a container for plastics but you can now put plastic #1 or #2 into the blue bins. There is a 30 yard container that GDS gave us to use for these items. It is located next to the paper container at the Print Shop. We will have all the containers remarked so there is no confusion.

Toner Cartridges: We recently made arrangements with a company called Network Technicians to recycle toner cartridges. We have labeled plastic tubs in most academic buildings and will send out an updated location list. In addition we have cardboard boxes available to anyone who might need one. To date we have received over $700 for our efforts. Please let us know if you need a collection bin in your work place.

To request a recycling bin, please contact Lauren Bishop.