University News

Campus Recyclemania Campaign Begins Educational Component

September 20, 2018

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MACOMB, IL – September marks the beginning of the 2018-19 RecycleMania campaign on the campus of Western Illinois University.

For the 12th year, WIU is participating in RecycleMania, a competition between colleges and universities across the nation.

According to Karuna Reddy Pailla, a computer science graduate student from India and RecycleMania campus coordinator, during September the educational component of the program gets underway. Volunteers will educate students about the program through the end of the fall semester through programming in the University Union and in the residence halls.

Beginning in January, WIU will take part in an eight-week competition where recyclables from the residence halls will be weighed by WIU building service workers and employees of Waste Management, the University's waste contractor.

Prizes will be awarded based on the highest recycling rates.

In 2017, WIU diverted 79,400 pounds of recyclable materials and 4,040 pounds of organic/food scrap waste was composted during the eight-week competition.

The goal of RecycleMania is to raise awareness of the importance of recycling. More than 320 colleges and universities participated in the 2017 event, resulting in 69.9 million pounds of total recycling and food waste.

RecycleMania began in February 2001, when Ed Newman from Ohio University, and Stacy Edmonds Wheeler, from Miami University, decided something had to be done to increase recycling in the residence and dining halls on their campuses. During the inaugural 10-week competition, Miami University and Ohio University battled to see which school could recycle the most. Western has participated in RecycleMania since 2006.

To learn more about environmentalism and sustainability, visit wiu.edu/sustainability or visit RecycleMania.org.

Posted By: Allison Pepich (wiunews@wiu.edu)
Office of University Communications & Marketing