By James El-Mallakh
Recycling has become increasingly important to the University of Louisville, but now school pride is on the line.
Recyclemania is a national competition involving schools from around the country. The objective is simple: Recycle more material than other schools from across the state. Additionally, schools compete against other schools from around the country to recycle the most material.
“For most people, recycling is their main connection to any sort of environmental awareness,” said Justin Mog, assistant to the provost for sustainability initiatives. “It’s like a first step to doing the right thing for the planet.
Mog’s office is largely responsible for U of L’s participation in Recyclemania. This year’s competition started on Feb. 6 and will end on April 2. This is the first year that U of L will be competitively involved in it.
“We’ve been wanting to get our act together to participate in it,” said Mog. “Who doesn’t love a good competition?”
Each school will compete in several categories, including ones that compare the amount of recycled materials per student at each school. There is also a category to compare the waste produced per capita at each university. The grand champion of Recyclemania is the school that has the best combined results of all the categories.
“Recyclemania is a check for universities to see how effective their recycling program is,” said Crystal Favors, resident life coordinator. “Students can go online to see how much is recycled and compare it to institutions of the same size.”
Favors said that, after getting involved in Recyclemania, she is more aware of consumption and waste. She believes it might have the same effect on other students.
Favors spoke at the kickoff event on Feb.15, along with several others who spoke in order to raise awareness of Recyclemania and how U of L is getting involved.
At the event, Mog noted that U of L has a secret weapon in the competition.
“We’ve got this single stream system which allows people to recycle all sorts of different things that they used to not be able to recycle or couldn’t find the bin for,” said Mog.
Single stream recycling means almost all recyclables can go in one bin.
“U of L is single stream recycling,” said Monica Carper, a sophomore pre-pharmacy major and a volunteer for Recyclemania. “That makes it effortless. You can just put something in a recycle can.”
According to Carper, the new single stream recycling system makes it easier for students to participate in the competition.
“Recycling doesn’t take any effort at all,” said Carper.
