Let the Recycling Games Begin !!

 

This year SFA is competing in the 2013 Recyclemania Tournament! 

Before I go into what RecycleMania is, let’s first talk about why it’s important to recycle in the first place.

1.) Recycling is good for the environment

It takes less energy to create new items from recycled materials than it does from raw materials. Mining minerals and cutting down trees into lumber requires vast amounts of energy.  Recycling allows us to reuse materials multiple times to conserve natural resources while creating the products we use in our everyday lives.

2.) Recycling is good for communities

Getting materials from mines or forests usually takes place far away from the place where they are consumed; however recycling can start in your own community. Gathering recyclables and reprocessing them into feedstock for future products is done locally.

3.) Recycling reduces pollution

Burning garbage or throwing waste into landfills produces byproducts that pollute the environment. Nasty runoff from landfills and metals (like mercury) can find their way into streams, rivers and oceans, fish, and eventually into human beings.

RecycleMania is a friendly competition for colleges to promote recycling in their campus communities. This year SFA is one of 600 colleges around the U.S and Canada that are competing! For 8 weeks each college reports the amount of recycling and trash collected each week and are ranked based on who recycles the most. Winning schools have the best recycling rate percentage of total waste and generate the least amount of combined trash.  So with each week’s updated ranking, we can see where we stand among other schools and see how much we have to reduce and recycle to be number one.

Why is this a good opportunity for us? Well, besides helping the Earth, national recognition is provided to the winning school in each category on the RecycleMania website and is featured in a national press release. Winning schools receive an award made out of recyclable materials and win the right to host that category’s trophy for the upcoming year.

 

This would be a great way to put SFA on the map! The competition starts next week on Monday, February 3rd, and ends on Saturday, March 30th.

SFA will be collecting CARDBOARD ONLY for this competition.  You can drop off your cardboard at Ralph W. Steen Library or the Student Recreation Center.

Let’s kick some AXE and Recycle!!

For more information, visit recyclemaniacs.org

-Just a thought from Dev. Hill

Resources:

http://www.grownyc.org/recycling/whyrecycle

http://recyclemaniacs.org/about