SMU is halfway through
RecycleMania, a two month-long collegiate competition in the US and Canada that
takes place every February and March. Recycling from each campus is weighed every
week throughout the competition, and the percent increase of recycling from each
campus is determined accordingly.
This week marks the end of week five of eight, and SMU has already seen drastic improvement in the level of weekly recycling campus wide.
Lauren Lamb, a freshman at SMU, is this year’s environmental rep leader for RecycleMania. Lamb oversees the organization of inter-hall competitions, tabling Tuesday through Thursday at Hughes-Trigg, and the programs about RecycleMania put on by the environmental reps for each residence hall.
“The response this year has been amazing,” Lamb said in regards to the 20 percent increase in recycling within the dorms alone. “This is a huge amount of recycling being done and the environmental reps are very pleased with the results so far. “
The SMU Environmental Society has partnered with the environmental reps for RecycleMania to increase awareness and participation in the competition. Beyond tabling, the RecycleMania committee has developed a variety of games and challenges for students with small prizes to encourage recycling and inform participants how to recycle waste properly.
A larger prize is in store for the inter-dorm competition to determine which residence can recycle the most throughout the duration of RecycleMania.
“The dorm that wins receives a big prize like a foosball table,” Lamb said. “This generates a lot of participation from residents.”
Ann Allen, SMU Sr. Grounds Manager and Operational Excellence Manager, shared a report of SMU’s progress thus far in the competition. RecycleMania is categorized into three events: Grand Champion Competition (weekly recycling rate percentage); Per Capita Classic (pounds of recycling per person); and Gorilla (gross tonnage regardless of the population).
As of the end of the fourth week, SMU ranked 40 out of 247 at 47 percent for Grand Champion, 178 out of 313 at 3.07 pounds of recycle per person for Per Capita Classic, and 138 out of 313 at 38,132 pounds of recycle for Gorilla.
“The goal of RecycleMania is to simply increase recycling,” Lamb said. “This will help SMU become a more sustainable college campus.”
