During the months of February and March, Auburn’s campus will be participating in a nationwide tournament that many may not know about. In an effort to reduce the waste on campus and recycle more, Auburn University will be competing in RecycleMania.
“RecycleMania is a friendly competition among colleges and universities to promote waste reduction and recycling,” said Joan Hicken, Coordinator with the Waste Reduction and Recycling Department.
The eight-week annual competition has been around since 2001 and Auburn University has participated during the last several years.
Lindsay Souders, a student who works with the Waste Reduction and Recycling Department, wanted to ensure peers that they could easily participate in RecycleMania and recycling on campus overall.
“We have hundreds of bins located in buildings and on campus grounds. Mixed paper goes in paper recycling bins, and plastic bottles, aluminum cans and steel/tin cans in the mixed container recycling bins,” said Souders.
RecycleMania includes many different categories, from cardboard recycling to paper waste to overall diversion rate.
“If we can recycle more and waste less, that gives us a better diversion rate,” said Hicken. The diversion rate means the number of recycled materials compared to the overall waste.
Auburn University’s best finish in RecycleMania came last year in the cardboard recycling category, where they finished 21st out of 73.
Souders said that “Something as small as owning reusable water bottles and shopping bags cuts down on waste tremendously.” Hicken also reiterated that message.
“Two simple things everyone can do is reduce your paper waste, say no to paper. Communicate electronically if you can. If you do have to print, think before you print, and you can print double- sided. Another thing that a lot of us are already doing is caring a reusable bottle, using that refillable bottle,” Hicken said.
“I try to avoid buying single-use items whenever possible,” said Souders.
“Try to avoid single-use items like plastic bags, plastic straws, and plastic cups. Reducing your waste is also an important part of the competition and the Waste Reduction and Recycling Program,” said Hicken.
Recycling bins are found throughout campus in almost every building, and even on the Concourse.
“We want to continue to educate and emphasize the importance of being mindful. We want students and faculty to locate recycling bins and be more mindful and aware of them and use them,” said Hicken.
For those that may live off campus but are still interested in helping Auburn recycle more, there is a drop off site. It is located off West Thach, down by the band practice field and RO parking.
“All in the effort to reduce our school’s environmental footprint, to make our university more sustainable and to make recycling easy and convenient,” Hicken said.
RecycleMania begins on February 4th and runs through March 31st across Auburn University’s campus. More information can be found at https://recyclemania.org/
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