The Voice

Issue date: 2/12/07 Section: Inside WCC

Media Credit: Chan Park

Recycling is nothing new to the WCC community. It's almost impossible to walk past a garbage can without seeing the conspicuous, brightly-lidded recycle bins that practically scream, "Why are you throwing that soda can away?! For the love of god, recycle your old copy of The Voice!" Student Activities, with the help of the Environmental Committee and Facilities Management, is hosting a recycling fair, which arrives on campus Feb. 13.

This event is a RecycleMania celebration. But what is RecycleMania? Is it a contest for rabid, naked recyclers? Sort of, although unfortunately without the nudity. It's actually a nation-wide "friendly competition," supported in part by the EPA, the National Wildlife Federation, and various organizations, that attempts to get students everywhere involved with recycling on campus. It started in 2001, according to the RecycleMania website (www.recyclemaniacs.org), as a contest between Ohio University and Miami University to see which campus could recycle the most materials. Miami University won that year and, as the site proclaims, "RecycleMania was born!"

Since the humble beginnings of the contest, when only 2 schools were involved, many more have jumped on the bandwagon. Last year the event drew 93 universities and colleges, and this year over 200 schools have signed up.

Schools from 43 states are taking part in the competition this year. Four other schools in Michigan-Grand Valley State University, Kalamazoo College, UM, and Western Michigan University-are also competing.

"We participated in RecycleMania last year and we didn't win anything, but as far as I'm concerned we win simply by participating," said Barry Wilkins, building services manager. RecycleMania was not widely publicized on campus in 2006, but Wilkins hopes that the event on Feb. 13, along with the accessibility of recycling bins and the advertisements in many buildings on campus, will help promote the contest.

The ten-week program runs from Jan. 28 to April 7 this year. During this time the recyclables collected at WCC will be weighed in order to qualify the school for different categories, such as "the largest amount of total recyclables" or "highest recycling rate." Wilkins said that the cardboard weight is estimated according to size by Recycle Ann Arbor and that the containers will be weighed by a material recovery center.

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