” The University of Akron will embark on a new journey this year by participating in Recycle Mania for the first time in school history. Founder of Environmental Akron, Donny Davis, explains that, Recycle Mania is a national competition between university recycling programs to promote waste reduction activities on campuses.”
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The University of Akron will embark on a new journey this year by participating in Recycle Mania for the first time in school history.

Founder of Environmental Akron, Donny Davis, explains that, Recycle Mania is a national competition between university recycling programs to promote waste reduction activities on campuses.

Environmental Akron was founded in 2007, and focuses on promoting awareness of environmental issues on and off campus among college students. Environmental Akron is responsible for bringing Recycle Mania to UA.

Recycle Mania began in Feb. 2001 when Ed Newman from Ohio University and Stacy Edmonds Wheeler from Miami University decided together that some action needed to be taken to increase recycling efforts by students in residence and dining halls on their campuses. During the first year of the Recycle Mania competition, Miami University triumphed over Ohio University.

The Web site, recyclemania.org, states that the goals of Recycle Mania are to increase participation in recycling programs in order to lower waste generated.

Davis says that among the bigger universities participating are Ohio State University, Ohio University, Miami, Bowling Green University and Youngstown and this is the reason that UA did not want to be left out.

While Kent State’s main campus is not participating in Recycle Mania, their Stark Campus is.

It is not known exactly why they did not sign up, especially since they have a recyclables processing facility nearby, Davis said.

UA students can join in Recycle Mania by recycling items such as: paper, number one and number two plastics and aluminum.

Students should take notice of recycling bins in buildings they are in, as well as the new bins that have been placed in the Student Union.

Currently, there is an initiative promoting recycling at basketball games at the JAR with potential to impact the new stadium, Davis said.

Recycle Mania will be held from Jan. 19 through Mar. 28. After the ten-week competition, winners are decided based on various categories. Such categories include the largest amount of recyclables per capita and largest amount of total recyclables, the least amount of trash per capita, or the highest recycling rate.

Weekly reporting by participating schools allows them to watch how their results fluctuate against other schools and use this to rally their campus communities to reduce and recycle more, he said.

Due to the fact that this is UA’s first year in the competition, they have decided to participate in the less formal division, which allows for comparison between other schools although no results are included in the official ranking.

Davis believes that at Akron there are a lot of students, especially those in residence halls, who wish to recycle but do not have access to receptacles.

Davis receives said that he receives e-mails from students complaining about the lack of recycling bins in certain areas and also looking for resources.

As for other students, I’m convinced they think recycling is a fad or an entity of counterculture, Davis said.

He believes that recycling is beneficial for many reasons.

Recycling conserves valuable natural resources (plastic is made of non-renewable petroleum), reduces energy consumption in the manufacturing of goods and reduces buildup of landfills. He adds a very interesting fact, stating that recycling one aluminum can conserves enough energy to power a television for three hours!

Davis has his doubts that students really have the option to recycle on campus.

Although there are some bins on-campus, they are not widely enough available and most people will not go out of their way to find one. I find myself having to seek out receptacles, Davis said.

Davis believes Recycle Mania is important to UA because reusable resources are filling landfills and UA has the opportunity to lead the rest of the community by example.

As for students, we hope the excitement and creditability generated from Recycle Mania will spark environmental awareness among students and faculty that extends beyond the 10-week competition.

Call news writer Susann Schmitt at:

330-972-7362

To comment on this story, go to:

https://www.buchtelite.com

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