SMU collected more than 226 tons of recyclable items during RecycleMania, an international recycling competition involving university and college campuses. The competition began on Jan. 18 and ended March 27.
The 10-week competition promoted environmental awareness and waste reduction on campuses. Although the competition ended Friday, SMU will maintain efforts to create an increasingly environmentally friendly campus. Schools track and report the recycling progress along the way.
“Our goal is not to stop recycling when RecycleMania ends but to continue to improve so each year we can see the impact we are making on the environment,” SMU’s Environmental Manager Eric English said. “We have made great improvements as a University.”
Campus Planning and Plant Operations leads the recycling program and focuses on single stream recycling. All recyclable materials like plastics, paper and other metals are disposed of in the same container to be sorted at a later time. Trash cans with clear plastic liners for recyclables have also been placed in most offices as well.
“Marked containers are found in academic and public buildings and in special areas of residence halls,” English said.
Schools were given an additional week after the March 28 end date to report final weight numbers and make revisions to previous collected data. The last day to submit campus records is Friday, April 10. RecycleMania staff will publish the official results Friday, April 17.
The competition promotes the “reduce, reuse, recycle” mantra to fuel environmental efforts across campuses. Recycling conserves limited natural resources, while reusing products reduces overall waste. By buying in bulk, using reusable drink containers or coffee mugs, and recycling paper, aluminum cans, plastics and corrugated boxes, students can make a difference.
21 million tons of paper are expended every year by U.S. businesses, equaling an equivalent of 350 million trees. One ton of recycled paper saves 17 trees, 7,000 gallons of water and 3 cubic yards of landfill. A ton of recycled paper also reduces air pollution by 60 pounds.
