Four weeks in, RecycleMania rages on; and we are halfway through the season. Each competing college continues to vie for the top spot and contribute to a healthier Earth in the process. We have tracked our recycling rates from the beginning of the event alongside 141 other schools, and Georgia College began its first week in the season boasting a diversion rate of 34.12% and a recycling rate of 33.3%. These numbers have diminished over the course of the event to where they currently stand at 20.07% and 11.8%, respectively. While these numbers may not seem that impressive, by this time just last year, Georgia College had a recycling rate of only 7.5%. In addition, this year, Georgia College is recording and reporting the amount of food waste which is composted, which helps increase our total diversion rate. Georgia College currently stands at rank 110 out of 141 for our total diversion efforts.
Georgia College has recycled a grand total of 28,245 pounds of material and composted 3,089 pounds of food waste by this point in the competition and stands at 3.67 pounds of material per person on the campus. At this time last year, the campus had only recycled 17,820 pounds of material: a difference of 10,425 pounds between this season and the last!
Currently, Georgia College also claims a waste minimization ratio of 20.26 pounds per person. This statistic makes its debut for Georgia College in the 2018 season and will serve as a benchmark for the rest of the season as well as for future events.
While these statistics may just seem like random numbers and percentages, the official RecycleMania report uses the EPA’s Waste Reduction Model (WARM) to transpose these figures into more commonplace measurements, such as total carbon dioxide (in metric tons), amount of energy consumed by a household, and amount of carbon emissions from automobiles. By this point, the diversion efforts of Georgia College are equivalent to the removal of forty metric tons of carbon dioxide, eight cars off the road, or the energy consumption of three households.
By the end of RecycleMania last season, Georgia College ranked 186 out of 190 with a final recycling rate of 7.816%. We are already soaring above that previous percentage, and this season promises the opportunity to build momentum in the community and send Georgia College well on its way to becoming an ever-greener campus.
Georgia College Green Initiative 