Athens, Ga. – RecycleManiacs have returned to the University of Georgia to celebrate the 13th annual RecycleMania Tournament. This year, the Office of Sustainability is partnering with the Facilities Management Division services department to host a competition to help motivate the university community to reduce waste and increase recycling. From Feb. 25 to March 29, eight campus buildings will compete for the highest recycling rate.
Andrew Lentini, program coordinator for the Office of Sustainability, said he hopes this competition will make recycling forefront in the minds of the campus community. “If participating in Recyclemania forces our community to think about putting that can or newspaper into a recycling bin rather than one destined for a landfill, we think that’s a great success.”
While everyone on campus is encouraged to participate, he said, several academic buildings in particular will compete to help the university meet its recycling goals: journalism, psychology, chemistry, biological sciences, Miller Plant Sciences, Aderhold Hall, Lamar Dodd School of Art and Hugh Hodgson School of Music. The buildings were selected to promote healthy competition and for logistical reasons such as a convenient place to store recyclables until they can be weighed by student volunteers. The winning building—and its building services staff—will receive prizes.
In addition to academic departments, University Housing will participate by separating and weighing recyclables from individual residence halls. Joel Eizenstat, work management supervisor for University Housing, said he is “excited to get UGA Housing students directly involved in this year’s Recyclemania challenge.”
Student participation is also encouraged through the Greek Green Cup Challenge, a waste reduction and recycling competition among fraternities and sororities. The Greek Green Cup Challenge will specifically target aluminum cans and the collection of gently used shoes; proceeds will benefit Bear Hollow Zoo in Athens and Soles4Souls.
For more information on RecycleMania at UGA and other initiatives of the Office of Sustainability, see http://www.sustainability.uga.edu/. For more information on the nationwide RecycleMania competition, see http://recyclemaniacs.org/.
