wfn.org | ELCA Colleges, Universities Participate in Recyclemania

[<NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

Title: ELCA Colleges, Universities Participate in Recyclemania
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

>February 20, 2009  

ELCA Colleges, Universities Participate in Recyclemania
09-047-FI

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- At least eight of the 28 colleges and
universities of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)
are among the 514 schools participating Jan. 18-March 28 in the
2009 RecycleMania, a competition to promote recycling and waste
reduction on campuses across the United States. Five schools in
Canada and one in India are also involved.

RecycleMania lists 325 schools in the competition division
and 189 in the benchmark division, including:
+ Augustana College, Rock Island, Ill. (competition)
+ Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pa. (competition)
+ Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minn. (competition)
+ Pacific Lutheran University (PLU), Tacoma, Wash. (benchmark)
+ St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn. (competition)
+ Susquehanna University, Selinsgrove, Pa. (competition)
+ Thiel College, Greenville, Pa. (competition)
+ Wagner College, Staten Island, N.Y. (benchmark)

Schools in the competition division participate in the
official contest with weekly results and rankings tracked on the
RecycleMania Web site. Schools in the benchmark division use the
RecycleMania promotional resources but do not participate in all
of the available categories.

Recycling and trash amounts are reported weekly and ranked
according to the highest recycling rate, the most recyclables,
the most recyclables per capita and the least amounts of trash
per capita.

"We are starting slowly but surely, with our recycling
program here at Thiel," John Rindy, dean of educational outreach
and co-coordinator of the greening effort, said in a news
release. "We are being very deliberate in our planning to insure
the long-term success and sustainability of recycling on Thiel's
campus," he said.

Jim Dontje, the director of the Johnson Center for
Environmental Innovation at Gustavus Adolphus, said, "If you have
been an on-again, off-again recycler, now is the time to step it
up and make it a goal to get your recyclables in the proper bin
every time."

Augustana reported that it took first place in the Illinois
competition in 2007 and 2008 in the per-capita weight of
recyclables.

Gettysburg reported being second in Pennsylvania in 2007 and
slipping to eighth in 2008, noting the competition doubled in
participating schools in 2008. The college runs an on-campus
competition among residence buildings.

In 2008 Susquehanna reported collecting 31,478 pounds of
recyclables, which amounted to 12.21 pounds per person over the
10-week period.

In an online report PLU claimed "a waste diversion rate of
60 to 65 percent" with a goal of reaching 80 percent. It credits
a composting project for reducing trash amounts from the
University Center.

RecycleMania began in 2001 as a rivalry between Miami
University, Oxford, Ohio, and Ohio University, Athens, to see
which school could recycle the most. Miami won. The competition
is now a project of the College and University Recycling Council,
a technical council of the National Recycling Coalition.
-- -- --

>The home page for RecycleMania is at
>http://www.recyclemaniacs.org/ on the Web.

For information contact:

John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news
ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog