RecycleMania comes to Edmonds College
01/03/2013
Edmonds College will participate in a nationwide competition aimed at reducing waste and increasing recycling on college campuses, the only community college in the state competing.
RecycleMania is Feb. 3-March 30. The college will track its trash and recycling and report its results for eight weeks.
During RecycleMania, the Center for Service-Learning will hold campus clean-ups 1-4 p.m. on most Tuesdays.
“We’re hoping to collect even more recyclables during our Trashy Tuesday clean-ups and add to our recycling total,” said Edmonds CC Center for Service-Learning manager Amy Johnson.
Winners will include colleges that recycle the most on a per capita basis; have the best recycling rate as a percentage of total waste; or which generate the least amount of combined trash and recycling.
Winners of the competition, in each category, will receive recognition on the RecycleMania website and in a national news release as well as an award made out of recyclable materials and the right to host that category’s traveling trophy for the year.
Students will lead the effort. In 2011, Edmonds CC students assessed themselves a new sustainability fee of 50 cents per credit to help fund practices on campus such as using compostable materials (instead of plastic foam) for campus food services. The fee also created a Green Team of five paid student advocating for sustainability.
“The RecycleMania competition provides a way to rally the students, staff, and faculty to reduce and recycle more and make sustainability a way of life here on campus. Our goal is to spread the word that recycling is beneficial to all of us – it saves energy, preserves natural resources, and lessens the need for landfill space,” said Stewart Sinning, an energy management student and member of the college’s Green Team.
Since 2006, Edmonds CC has focused on sustainability as one of its core values. The college has been teaching environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable practices in its classes and programs while modeling sustainability in its campus operations. This includes a proactive campus recycling program.
Last year, the college received its first LEED certification (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) for renovated Meadowdale Hall, installed a new solar installation on campus with help from Snohomish County PUD, and saved 17 percent (more than $100,000 annually) on its energy bills due to energy efficiency upgrades funded by the State Jobs Act.
For more information about sustainability at the college, go to edmonds.edu/sustain.