2008 Woodie Awards
Recycling 'maniacs' raise earth awareness
The Acorn Drew U.
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Wait! Instead of throwing out that soda can, put it in a recycle bin. Do your part to help Drew University win Recycle Mania. What is Recycle Mania you ask?
According to Student Coordinator Leanna E. Celebre, Recycle Mania is: ?A competition between Universities [around ninety one this year] to see who can recycle the most and waste the least per capita. Every week, our trash and recycling will be weighed and divided by the number of students and faculty here, and we?ll be compared with other schools. Schools can win for Waste Minimization, Recycling Per Capita, and for individual types of recyclables. The goal is not only for us to win the competition, but for our community to become more aware of how we can reduce our waste, reuse as much as possible, and recycle properly.?
Drew University is proud to be the first New Jersey school to enter this competition. According to Celebre, ?Facilities Resource Management actually came to me with the idea of joining this year. I?m the student coordinator, and much of the advertising/publicity will be handled by Drew Environmental Action League. Signs will be going up over the next few days, another e-mail will remind people about the contest, and our kick-off event will be Wednesday the 8th from 11-4 in front of the UC. We will have more information, interesting displays to consider, and some give-aways!?
What are the overall goals of Recycle Mania? The biggest goals, according to the website http://www.recyclemaniacs.org, are to heighten awareness of schools? waste management and recycling programs, ?to expand economic opportunities while addressing environmental issues in a positive way.? The program also strives to lower waste generated on-campus by ?reducing, reusing and recycling.?
All departments of Drew University, including Food Services, are supporting Drew?s entry in this contest. According to Celebre: ?Food Services has just started an
incentive program for people to bring reusable mugs to java city. The basics [of this program] are if you refill a 16 oz. mug, you pay the 12 oz. cost. So it?s quite a savings and will reduce a lot of paper and plastic waste from cups and lids.?
When asked what the biggest problem Drew faces in regards to Recycle Mania, Celebre answered: ?our biggest problem is still people who ?contaminate? recycling bins with trash, as well as throwing recyclable goods into the garbage unnecessarily. It is NOT true that we don?t really recycle here...even though students may see everything going on the same truck, if the bags are full of what they?re supposed to be filled with, they are then separated to be recycled. But if there are banana peels and other food waste mixed in with the cans, it?s unlikely that it will be recycled. It?s unfair to expect anyone to sort through that mess after the fact. Each person needs to do their little bit to help with the effort, not just for the contest, but for our community and our environment.?
Recycle Mania is a community effort and each and every Drew University student and faculty member has to do their part to help Drew come out on top in the contest as well as to help the Drew community as a whole. Celebre stated: ?This [Recycle Mania] has been an effort from FRM, Food Services, ResLife and DEAL/Earth House, as well as the administration and faculty and other supportive organizations. It should be a great experience.?
Again, the official Recycle Mania kick-off event will be Wednesday the 8th from 11-4 in front of the UC. Remember to look at the barrel before you throw out your trash to ensure that you are doing your part to help Drew and the environment!