Recyclemania kicks off January 22

For the fifth year in a row, Grand Valley is competing in Recyclemania, a national competition among colleges and universities. Beginning Sunday, January 22, and ending March 31, Grand Valley will compete in different contests over a 10-week period to collect the largest amount of recyclables and the least amount of trash.

Grand Valley placed in the top 100 nationwide last year and recycled nearly 200,000 pounds of compost, a 107 percent increase from 2010, and reduced the waste stream by more than 40 percent.

Steve Leeser, operations supervisor for Facilities Services, said he hopes additional composting programs on campus will help Grand Valley place first overall in the state this year. “We have a strong composting program at Grand Valley and it’s what sets us apart from other universities,” he said. “This year we started composting paper towels from all campus bathrooms and some non-food buildings began composting as well. Our food service areas have been composting for two years.”

Leeser said there are some misconceptions about composting and reminds the campus community that anything that can be broken down or decomposed can be composted. For a list of compostable and recyclable items, visit the Facilities Services website.

Facilities Services is leading the contest, with support from Campus Dining, Office of Housing and Residence Life, Sustainable Community Development Initiative and Pew Campus Operations.

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.

For more information about Recyclemania, visit www.recyclemania.org.