From Feb. 3 through March 30, NSU is participating in Recyclemania 2013, an annual nationwide recycling competition in which colleges across the U.S. and Canada report the amount of recycled objects and trash collected each week on their campuses.
The goal of Recyclemania 2013 is for colleges to engage in a friendly competition, while encouraging recycling efforts among students. Each week, the colleges that recycle the most per capita are ranked at recyclemaniacs.org/scoreboard. Reporting will be done by NSU’s municipalities department, using a ReTrac recycling and wastes data tracking system.
In 2012’s Recylemania competition, NSU ranked 80th out of 605 schools. This year, NSU is competing against over 600 colleges and universities, and all students are encouraged to participate.
Jeeda Alayoubi, freshman biology major, said, “This program will help students develop better recycling habits whether they live at home or on campus.”
The main focus of this competition, as stated in the program’s mission statement is to “increase recycling awareness” on college campuses. Its organizers’ intent is to “motivate students and staff to increase recycling efforts.”
Once the competition concludes, several schools will be declared winners in various categories and will receive national recognition via RecycleMania’s website and a national press release. They will also win an award made out of recyclable materials.
Isabella Jones, freshman biology major, hopes that this initiative will teach both students and faculty the importance of recycling. She believes that there is nothing to lose by participating in the competition.
“Even if NSU does not get the first place title, we can still come out of it knowing we’ve implemented something great,” said Jones.
Having lived on campus for the past couple of months, Sabrina Kierberg, freshman communications studies major, had already noticed recycling efforts on campus prior to this competition.
“I noticed that some vendors on campus, such as Chick-n-Grill, use recycled cups, which is a great start,” said Kierberg. “I also notice recycle bins everywhere, in almost every building on campus.”
Blue recycling bins are in many locations around NSU’s main campus and can also be requested for events. To place a request, contact Anthony Lovino, assistant director of the Physical Plant, at 954-262-8920 or aiovino@nova.edu.
For more information on Recyclemania 2013, or to view NSU’s weekly competitive ranking, visit nova.edu/gogreen.
