RecycleMania 2011 comes to GV
Nine year old Nate Weller of Grand Rapids takes advantage of Sibs and Kids weekend to do a little recycling around campus.
Jan 31, 2011
University and college campuses nationwide are competing for a better tomorrow with the RecycleMania 2011 competition. Grand Valley State University joins the 10-week competition for the third consecutive year.
““Facilities Services and Recyclemania have done a great job of changing behaviors that last a lifetime,” said Bart Bartels, project coordinator of the Sustainable Community Development Initiative.
Originating in February 2001, RecycleMania is described on the website as “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.”
Running from Jan. 24 through March 27, Operations Supervisor of Facilities Services Steve Leeser said that GVSU made positive strides last year in the RecycleMania competition.
“Last year’s results showed continued improvement in our program,” he said.
Weighing in at 622,202 pounds of waste and 227,442 pounds of recycling, GVSU’s RecyleMania 2010 showed a 19-percent reduction in waste and a 3-percent increase in recycling from 2009, when waste totaled 767,094 pounds and recycling 221,494 pounds.
In 2009, compost had not yet been introduced into the competition, but Leeser said addition of compost reduced the volume going to the landfill by 95,238 pounds – a statistic that Leeser finds the most pride in from last year’s RecycleMania.
In 2010, the percent of waste stream recycled totaled at 27 percent, a 20 percent increase from 2009.
Leeser said that although he is proud of the strides GVSU is making, he does feel that some of the resident units and academic buildings do not participate at the desired levels, which stunts the final totals for the competition.
“Our resident units on the north side of campus need to match the volumes of the south units,” he said.
Leeser said that RecycleMania has brought increased attention to our sustainability initiative on campus and added a simple, sustainable reason for student, staff and faculty participating in this year’s 2011 competition.
“We need to walk the talk,” he said.
