2008 Woodie Awards
RecycleMania sweeps the nation, the College
Jenny Lawrence
Issue date: 3/2/07 Section: News & Features
After a successful first year, the College has once again taken on the RecycleMania challenge. From Jan. 28 through Apr. 7, over 200 colleges located all over the country will compete to be the campus with the highest amount of recyclables, the least amount of trash, and the highest recycling rate.
"Colby has been recycling for over a decade, but what we really needed was a way to increase awareness among the student body as well as a reason to start measuring our waste, and RecycleMania has done both of these things," Environmental Studies Coordinator and the leading advocate of RecycleMania Beth Kopp said. Kopp explained that last year Colby and Bowdoin were the only two Maine schools participating in the competition, but this year, four other Maine schools have joined the race. Kopp is working alongside the Environmental Advisory Group, the Goddard-Hodgkins Greenhouse and the Environmental Studies Club to get the project off the ground.
The College has found overwhelming success in recycled food waste. Last year, the College earned third place and this year currently ranks fourth with a cumulative 9.96 pounds of food waste per person. Kopp said that "just last month, 13 tons of food scraps went into compost instead of going down the sink, saving both water and energy." In paper recycling, the College is still faring well, coming in at twelfth at the end of week three with 6.05 cumulative pounds of paper per person.
Kopp hopes that these statistics will lead Colby faculty, staff and students to begin thinking about how these numbers can be improved. Two students, Anna Barnwell '08 and Kerry Whittaker '08 are working closely with Kopp to take on this challenge. In addition to helping out with the RecycleMania campaign, Barnwell, Head Resident of Colby Gardens, and Whittaker, Head Resident of the Heights, are looking for new ways to make Colby a more environmentally friendly campus.
In order to directly access the student community, Barnwell and Whittaker have decided to utilize the residence halls and the Head Residents as resources for facilitating recycling. First, they plan to distribute personal recycling containers to the Head Residents in each dorm. Students that express interest may rent a bin for the year using dorm funds or can buy their own bin for four dollars. "It is really about raising awareness and generating good habits. Having a bin makes it easy to recycle every little scrap," Whittaker said. Barnwell added that "If you can rip it, you can recycle it. The bin will make it really simple to keep your paper separate from the rest of your trash so that every last piece can be recycled." Second, Whittaker and Barnwell are planning to hold Colby's own RecycleMania, where dorms will compete to see who can recycle the most paper and cans. With the help of the Physical Plant Department, Barnwell and Whittaker hope to collect and weigh the recycling from each dorm every week, for one month. The competition is planned to begin during Earth week, which begins on Apr. 16.
RecycleMania has caused campuses and students to consider how much waste they produce and what can be done to reduce that amount. Even if Colby does not bring home the elegant RecycleMania trophy made of what once was garbage, those involved with the project hope that campus will nonetheless be cleaner and more aware of recycling at the finish.
Students interested in acquiring a personal recycling container should contact Barnwell or Whittaker.
"Colby has been recycling for over a decade, but what we really needed was a way to increase awareness among the student body as well as a reason to start measuring our waste, and RecycleMania has done both of these things," Environmental Studies Coordinator and the leading advocate of RecycleMania Beth Kopp said. Kopp explained that last year Colby and Bowdoin were the only two Maine schools participating in the competition, but this year, four other Maine schools have joined the race. Kopp is working alongside the Environmental Advisory Group, the Goddard-Hodgkins Greenhouse and the Environmental Studies Club to get the project off the ground.
The College has found overwhelming success in recycled food waste. Last year, the College earned third place and this year currently ranks fourth with a cumulative 9.96 pounds of food waste per person. Kopp said that "just last month, 13 tons of food scraps went into compost instead of going down the sink, saving both water and energy." In paper recycling, the College is still faring well, coming in at twelfth at the end of week three with 6.05 cumulative pounds of paper per person.
Kopp hopes that these statistics will lead Colby faculty, staff and students to begin thinking about how these numbers can be improved. Two students, Anna Barnwell '08 and Kerry Whittaker '08 are working closely with Kopp to take on this challenge. In addition to helping out with the RecycleMania campaign, Barnwell, Head Resident of Colby Gardens, and Whittaker, Head Resident of the Heights, are looking for new ways to make Colby a more environmentally friendly campus.
In order to directly access the student community, Barnwell and Whittaker have decided to utilize the residence halls and the Head Residents as resources for facilitating recycling. First, they plan to distribute personal recycling containers to the Head Residents in each dorm. Students that express interest may rent a bin for the year using dorm funds or can buy their own bin for four dollars. "It is really about raising awareness and generating good habits. Having a bin makes it easy to recycle every little scrap," Whittaker said. Barnwell added that "If you can rip it, you can recycle it. The bin will make it really simple to keep your paper separate from the rest of your trash so that every last piece can be recycled." Second, Whittaker and Barnwell are planning to hold Colby's own RecycleMania, where dorms will compete to see who can recycle the most paper and cans. With the help of the Physical Plant Department, Barnwell and Whittaker hope to collect and weigh the recycling from each dorm every week, for one month. The competition is planned to begin during Earth week, which begins on Apr. 16.
RecycleMania has caused campuses and students to consider how much waste they produce and what can be done to reduce that amount. Even if Colby does not bring home the elegant RecycleMania trophy made of what once was garbage, those involved with the project hope that campus will nonetheless be cleaner and more aware of recycling at the finish.
Students interested in acquiring a personal recycling container should contact Barnwell or Whittaker.
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