Posted April 24, 2008

Temple adds to last year’s RecycleMania total

 

RecycleMania, a 10-week campus competition to increase recycling participation and heighten awareness of waste management and recycling, ended April 5, and the final results have been announced. Out of 21 participating Pennsylvania schools, Temple came in second in the Gorilla Prize competition, which recognizes the school that collects the highest gross tonnage of material regardless of campus population; the University of Pennsylvania came in first.

Temple collected more than 217 tons (434,244 pounds) of recyclable materials — 25 tons more than last year’s total of 193 tons (385,004 pounds). Nationally, Temple ranked 28th out of 200 schools participating in the Gorilla Prize category. Overall, the combined efforts of the 400 participating schools across the country resulted in the collection of 29,300 tons (58.6 million pounds) of recyclables.

RecycleMania was about more than just numbers, though. Senior facilities specialist H. Marshall Budin, who manages the Recycling Office, said that RecycleMania shows how simple actions can make a major difference in the environment.

“RecycleMania helps us focus on our daily habits and routines, and the small things that we can do to make a big contribution,” Budin said.

To help inform the Temple community of the benefits of recycling, the Recycling Office placed informational fliers and posters around campus, and put RecycleMania banners on Temple’s buses. They also provided an additional outdoor recycling opportunity, with the addition of a painted recycling dumpster outside of Barton Hall — adding to the one already located on Berks Mall. Budin said that these efforts were often done in collaboration with student members of Students for Environmental Action. Looking ahead to next year’s competition, Budin says that he hopes to open up participation to even more members of the Temple community.

For detailed results, and information on the climate impacts of RecycleMania, visit www.recyclemaniacs.org/results.aspx.

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