UST Pitches in for Recyclemania 2011

Recyclemania, the annual college and university recycling competition promoting waste reduction, starts next week and continues until April 2. Competing schools across the nation will report their recycling and trash data, and the tally will be posted weekly at Recyclemania results.

Competing schools are ranked according to which collects the largest amount of recyclables per capita, the largest amount of total recyclables, the least amount of trash per capita, and who has the highest recycling and waste diversion rate. With each week’s rankings, participating schools watch their results fluctuate against other schools and find out who's really being a sustainable campus. 

recyclemania_2011_logo"UST participated for the first time in 2009 and surprised a number of Minnesota schools with our great results," said Bob Douglas, coordinator of recycling and Central Receiving. "We held our ground in 2010, but we want to improve our standings in 2011 and show that recycling is important here at UST."

Audits of UST trash have shown that more than 40 percent of what's "thrown away" could have been put into one of the 1,000 recycling containers located across the campus.

"Hauling trash away is expensive; recycling saves us money and puts it back into the general funds," Douglas added, "So let's help ourselves and show the nation that UST is on track as a sustainable campus."

 Information about what's recycled at St. Thomas can be viewed here.

SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise) again will be on board to help promote Recyclemania, offering fun and rewarding promotional events. 

Questions? E-mail Douglas.