Starting February 4th, the 2018 RecycleMania campaign has begun! Based in Washington D.C., RecycleMania is an eight-week-long event dedicated to promoting recycling efforts in college campuses across the United States and Canada. As stated by the organization itself, “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.” RecycleMania serves as a vehicle for increasing recycling and sustainability efforts nationwide. Georgia College will compete alongside countless schools, including Georgia State University, Auburn University, and even Harvard University, to boost our recycling rates. The school that races to the top of the scoreboard will receive international recognition, an award made of recyclable materials, and the honor of hosting the organization’s traveling trophy for a year.
On February 9th, Georgia College officially kicked off its participation in RecycleMania. Interns from the Office of Sustainability tabled outside of the Arts and Sciences building and provided pertinent recycling information in regards to what can and cannot be recycled at Georgia College, as well as a small game to discern what the campus can recycle. Participants in the game received a free water bottle. This is the first of many more recycling and RecycleMania based events to occur in the upcoming weeks.
RecycleMania rates schools based off of three categories: total recycling per capita, smallest waste generation, and highest rates of recycling as a percentage of total generated waste. Scores are updated weekly and schools are ranked accordingly. Last year, Georgia College achieved recycling rates of 6-8%; and our goal this year is to surpass those percentages. Throughout this competition, the Office of Sustainability will be hosting a multitude of events in order to promote the campaign and raise our scores. Recycling is one of the Office of Sustainability’s chief sustainability programs, and we hope that RecycleMania increases the education of and participation in the recycling initiative.
Georgia College supports recycling of paper, cardboard, paperboard, and plastics #1 and #2 (Plastic products have a small number inside of a recycling symbol on the surface of the object). We encourage all students and staff to take part in this exciting event and help rocket Georgia College to the top of the scoreboard!
