Grand Valley named a Recyclemania champion

Grand Valley placed 77th in the country as a Grand Champion of Recyclemania, a 10-week competition that aimed to increase student awareness and waste reduction. More than 600 colleges and universities participated in the competition.

Statewide, Grand Valley ranked second for universities that have more than 20,000 students in the Grand Champion and Waste Minimization categories. Nationwide, the university ranked in the top nine percent for Waste Minimization and the top seven percent for composting efforts. 

During the competition, Grand Valley recycled 244,320 pounds, compared to 200,000 pounds last year.

“We’ve continued to improved each year since we joined the competition five years ago,” said Steve Leeser, operations supervisor for Facilities Services. “I think seeing the university’s continuous improvement in the area of waste minimization, recycling and composting is the best part of this competition.” 

Campus Dining, Housing, Sustainable Community Development Initiative and Pew Campus Operations helped Facilities Services during the contest.

Visit www.recyclemania.org to view all results of the competition.

To help promote Recyclemania this year, a group of film and video students created three promotional videos for a final project in a class led by professor Deanna Morse. The videos can be viewed online here.