MU competes in nationwide recycling contest
The university ranked 11th of about 300 schools participating last year.
Published Feb. 12, 2010
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MU is competing in a 10-week recycling competition with 300 other schools across the nation. The contest, called Recyclemania, is sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The Sustainability Office is leading MU in its fifth year of Recyclemania, a competition initiated by the Environmental Protection Agency, this semester.
"It's a friendly competition to see who the best recycler is," Sustainability Coordinator Steve Burdic said. "We have done the best in the guerilla category, which measures the actual poundage."
Schools across the nation began competing in the 10-week recycling contest Jan. 17. The EPA Recylemania Web site attributes the need for Recyclemania to the high levels of consumption and output of waste that happens on the college campus -- waste that could be recycled.
"It's a way to get people excited about recycling," Burdic said. "We try to reach out and let people know they are in a contest so they try extra hard to get involved."
Student Sustainability Coordinator Patrick Margherio said MU ranked 11th in the overall recycling challenge out of about 300 other schools across the nation last year. In addition to the overall competition, there are different sub-categories, such as paper, aluminum and plastic, in which schools can place. Stephens College placed first in the paper recycling competition last year.
"We've been doing Recylemania for years now," Student Sustainability Coordinator Ben Datema said. "We recycled 8,700 pounds last year, which is about 25 percent of total waste at Mizzou."
Columbia Waste Minimization Supervisor Layli Terrill said every year the numbers for recycled material go up through Recyclemania. As of this year, MU will be primarily using the Material Recovery Facility through the city to recycle its waste. The city has been working with the Recyclemania program for the past five years.
"It doesn't change the way we do business, but we report the numbers every week rather than a monthly basis," Terrill said.
The Sustainability Office creates a "recycle mountain" using six bales of recycled materials to create a visual representation to show how much is recycled and how much could be recycled.
"It's been a long process," Margherio said. "The sustainability office has put bins in residence halls for both paper plastic and aluminum and also bins in each building on campus."
Margherio said volunteers with the Sustainability Office have been putting out materials and flyers around campus to promote the event.
"There are about 2,000 tons every year that we recycle, and we think there is that much more that we could recycle if we try even harder," Burdic said.
MU recycles about half of its recyclable waste. Margherio said MU does relatively well when compared to other campuses in the contest.