Just when you thought there was nothing left to rank in higher ed, here comes RecycleMania, a benchmarking program that gives top marks to some of the College’s sustainability initiatives.
Through March 20, Union was ranked second in corrugated cardboard recycled per person with 20.82 pounds. Kalamazoo led the field with 22.65 pounds. Rounding out the top five, in order, were Franklin and Marshall College, Rutgers University and Wells College.
Union was ranked fifth in the “Per Capita Classic,” in which schools compete to see which can collect the largest amount of recyclables per person. Union had 43.6 pounds. The U.S. Coast Guard Academy led with 54.83 pounds.
RecycleMania is a friendly competition for college and university recycling programs to promote waste reduction activities. Results, updated weekly, are at: http://www.recyclemaniacs.org//Results.aspx
The recycling program is led by Terry Miltner, assistant manager of cleaning services, and U-Sustain’s Recycling Subcommitee. Miltner said that members decided this year to focus on corrugated cardboard. “This was the low-hanging fruit, something we could easily move,” he said.
Coach Paul Wehrum and the men’s lacrosse team led a successful cardboard drive last fall. On move-in weekend in September, the team collected 13.5 tons of cardboard, a 473 percent jump over the same weekend in 2008.
“It started there and it didn’t stop,” Miltner said. “This has been a real on-going group effort.”
Members of U-Sustain’s Recycling Subcommittee include Meghan Haley Quigley ’11, Erin Delman ’12, Prof. Jeff Corbin, Prof. Laura McManus, and Loren Rucinski, director of facilities.