RecycleMania – How do we stack up against the competition?
RecycleMania kicked off with a bang on January 17th; the 10-week competition runs through March 27th. Competing against colleges and universities across the nation, Wake Forest aims to reduce the amount of municipal solid waste produced, and to increase the amount of recyclables collected per person on campus. Wake Forest can compare weekly results against other campuses in the ACC, as well of those competing across North Carolina. In week four of the competition, Wake Forest ranked higher than Florida State University, with a cumulative recycling rate of 1.28 lbs per person compared to FSU’s .93 lbs per person. Wake’s rate of recyclables per person is lagging behind the rest of the schools in the ACC, including Duke at 1.97 lbs per person, Chapel Hill at 4.87, and Boston College at 9.98.
The good news is that Wake Forest creates the least amount of waste per capita at about 8 lbs per person, a fraction a Boston College’s nearly 29 lbs per person. With respect to the 3R’s (Reduce, Re-Use, Recycle), Wake Forest is leading the conference.
While there are still several weeks left in the competition, the program promises to increase awareness on campus about the importance of reducing waste while increasing the amount of materials recycled. Hopefully this is a competition the whole university can get behind.