RecycleMania 2009 Kicks Off at WIU
January 21, 2009
MACOMB, IL -- The 2009 RecycleMania contest -- the competition that pits colleges and universities in a nationwide contest to measure which institutions can reduce, reuse and recycle the most campus waste -- kicked off Sunday, Jan. 18 and runs through Saturday, March 28 at Western Illinois University.
"Over this ten-week period, participating schools across the nation compete in a variety of categories," explained Joe Roselieb, assistant director of residential facilities at WIU. "Schools report recycling and trash data, and then schools are ranked according to which institution collects the largest amount of recyclables per capita, the largest amount of total recyclables, the least amount of trash per capita or has the highest recycling rate. With each week's reports and rankings, participating schools watch how their results fluctuate against other schools and use this to rally their campus communities to reduce and recycle more."
Though many schools have had recycling and waste prevention programs for years, studies have found that large volumes of recyclables still end up in the trash, Roselieb noted.
"RecycleMania motivates campus communities to recycle more often. By framing recycling in competitive terms, RecycleMania taps the same intercollegiate spirit that drives sports rivalries," he added.
According to Roselieb, each week during RecycleMania at WIU, staff from WIU's Physical Plant will collect and record the amount of recyclables from each residence hall on campus. Waste Management assists the campus community during these ten weeks by separately weighing each hall's recycled material for more accurate data collection.
"The standings are posted online for all participants to see, motivating campuses to work harder as they not only aim for the top prizes, but they also to try beat out their rival schools," Roselieb said.
According to the RecycleMania website, RecycleMania began in February 2001, when Ed Newman from Ohio University and Stacy Edmonds Wheeler from Miami University decided that something had to be done to increase recycling in the residence and dining halls on their campuses. During this initial ten-week competition, Miami University and Ohio University went head to head to see which school could recycle the most. From there, the competition grew to what is today, with more than 400 colleges and universities throughout the United States participating.
Western Illinois University has participated in RecycleMania Competition since 2006. "This year the university is competing in the 'benchmark' category and going against other institutions such as Millikin University, North Central College and the University of Illinois at Chicago," said Roselieb.
For more information, contact Roselieb at (309) 298-2461 or JA-Roselieb@wiu.edu. Learn more about RecycleMania at www.recyclemania.org.
Posted By: Teresa Koltzenburg (WIUNews@wiu.edu)
Office of University Communications & Marketing
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