The UA is making efforts across campus to promote recycling.
Last year the UA finished 36th in the RecycleMania competition and in order to encourage students to continue recycling, UA Sustainability is offering a chance for students to win a bike, courtesy of Parking and Transportation, in its program “Get Caught Recycling,” while Residence Life is offering the chance for students to win $10 gift cards to the UA Bookstore.
“Get Caught Recycling” is a contest where students submit photos of themselves recycling that are then posted on the UA Sustainability’s Facebook page where the photos will be judged.
UA Sustainability is still working out some of the details of its promotion program and the webpage where students can submit photos will be up later this week, said Joe Abraham, director of the UA Office of Sustainability.
The UA is participating in the “gorilla” prize category within RecycleMania, which means that the UA is competing for the highest gross tonnage of combined paper, cardboard, bottles and cans. The prize for RecycleMania is the university getting its name announced as a winner in a national press release, an award made out of recyclable materials, and the ability to host the “gorilla” category’s trophy for next year. The contest began February 3 and will continue until March 30.
The Arizona Student Unions has been participating in RecycleMania since 2010. One of the biggest impacts was in terms of tin and aluminum since the student union made more recycle friendly choices in the packaging of these items, said Jon Levengood, dining services retail manager, in an email.
Glass recycling was added as a recyclable material for the university in academic buildings and residence halls this semester, according to Jill Ramirez, coordinator of sustainability education.
“Facilities management has been able to work out the safety issues with risk management,” Ramirez said. “I think a lot of people have been recycling glass on campus anyway because it’s recyclable, but we weren’t supposed to, but now everyone is allowed.”
Also new this semester are recycling bins in the lobbies of academic buildings around campus, said David Munro, recycling program coordinator for Facilities Management.
The bins have new lids that are color coded: green for paper and blue for bottles and cans. The lids also have icons to identify the types of materials that are recyclable, along with the recycling web address.
“I think because we’re a college campus I think it’s imperative that we help to further these practices and RecycleMania is kind of a fun way of making that happen of getting the word out to students and faculty and staff and why recycling is an important part of our practice,” Munro said.
