Hobart and William Smith Colleges

22 April 2010 RecycleMania Results Are In

Finishing with a 30.72 percent recycling rate in this years RecycleMania competition, Hobart and William Smith Colleges have once again succeeded in ramping up the efforts toward making campus more sustainable and environmentally friendly.

RecycleMania is a friendly competition and benchmarking tool for college and university recycling programs to promote waste reduction activities to their campus communities. Over a 10-week period, schools report recycling and trash data which are then ranked according to who collects the largest amount of recyclables per capita, the largest amount of total recyclables, the least amount of trash per capita, or have the highest recycling rate. With each weeks reports and rankings, participating schools watch how their results fluctuate against other schools and use this to rally their campus communities to reduce and recycle more.

Increasing the recycling rate, up from 18 percent this fall, and exceeding the 30 percent target, HWS finished 84th out of 600 in RecycleMania, competing and measuring up against many other colleges and universities such as Brown University, Yale University, Bowdoin College, Union College, Temple University, Vassar College, Dartmouth University, Bucknell University, Gettysburg College, Hamilton College and the University of Rochester.

The stiff, head-to-head East Side v. West Side competition, which used Pulteney Street as the dividing line to split the campus into two teams, drew to a close, with the Green title going to the east side, which earned a 47.09 percent recycling rate; the west side grossed 46.56 percent.

These events preceded this weeks Earth Day festivities, which include Green Games and an E-Waste Collection on Earth Day, Thursday, April 22. Green Games will take place during lunch on the front patio of the Scandling Campus Center. An E-Waste Collection will be held on Thursday, and again on Tuesday, April 27, from 3 to 6 p.m. at the College Store and Odells parking lots. Items accepted at the E-Waste Collection include: computers, printers, televisions, batteries, cell phones, microwaves, audio equipment, telephone equipment, cables, wires and any item with a circuit board.

The Earth Day celebration is one component of a week filled with campus events called Whats Your Carbon Footprint? The effort encourages students to think about their carbon footprint and strives to make people more aware of their personal impact on the environment. Other events this week include Service Through Science: Honeoye Lake Roadside Cleanup on Saturday, April 24. Individuals will depart from the Finger Lakes Institute at 9 a.m. and transportation is provided. The Sustainable Picnic will take place on Sunday, April 25 at 12 p.m. on the Quad and will include food from local businesses, a performance by Revision, a band from Ithaca; solar cookie baking and tie dye.