A recycling frenzy has taken over the University of Minnesota, Crookston. Starting this week, the Crookston campus will battle against 510 other colleges and universities in a RecycleMania competition to see who can recycle the most over a 10 week period. Schools will be ranked in categories such as the largest amount of recyclables per capita and the least amount of trash per capita.
Sponsoring RecycleMania on campus is the recycling committee of the Crookston Student Association, the student governing body. Crookston Students for Sustainable Development (CSSD), a sub-committee has worked closely with this project.
CSSD was formed last year and serves as a group for exploration, research, and collaborative conception of a number of sustainability initiatives on campus and for the local community. The group is open to all U of M Crookston students and currently has some 15 members.
CSSD student chair and sustainability assistant for U of M Crookston's Center for Sustainability, Lisa Gentele asserted, "RecycleMania is all about student awareness. Each person can make a difference everyday by shutting off one light or recycling one bottle."
Chris Waltz, U of M Crookston's Center for Sustainability's energy conservation specialist supported by Minnesota GreenCorps and recent graduate also showed enthusiasm for RecycleMania, "We are really excited to be participating in such a large competition. Our goal is to be up there in rankings with larger universities like the University of North Dakota and the Twin Cities campus."
Waltz and Gentele recently earned an $11,000 Clean Energy Resources Teams (CERTs) grant for the Center of Sustainability. The grant will support students being paired with a faculty or staff member to address two projects: conduct a feasibility study for a methane digester and measure building-to-building energy use.
RecycleMania is a recycling program created not just to increase recycling participation by students and staff but to raise awareness of current waste management and recycling practices. RecycleMania is a way for students to learn to address environmental issues in a positive way. The program hopes to inspire colleges and universities to expand their waste reduction programs on campus. The 2010 RecycleMania competition will run from Sunday January 17 to Saturday March 27.
The RecycleMania program was founded in 2001 by Ed Newman of Ohio University and Stacy Edmonds Wheeler of Miami University. These students thought that something needed to be done to increase recycling on campus so they started a competition between their universities to see who could recycle the most over the 10 week competition. RecycleMania has quickly grown over the last 9 years to include 510 colleges and universities across the nation. To learn more, visit www.recyclemania.org.
Today the University of Minnesota, Crookston delivers more than 25 bachelor's degree programs and 50 concentrations, including several online degrees, in agriculture and natural resources; arts, humanities and social sciences; business; and math, science and technology. With an enrollment of about 1,300 undergraduates, the Crookston campus offers a supportive, close-knit atmosphere that leads to a prestigious University of Minnesota degree. "Small Campus. Big Degree." To learn more, visit www.umcrookston.edu.
Sponsoring RecycleMania on campus is the recycling committee of the Crookston Student Association, the student governing body. Crookston Students for Sustainable Development (CSSD), a sub-committee has worked closely with this project.
CSSD was formed last year and serves as a group for exploration, research, and collaborative conception of a number of sustainability initiatives on campus and for the local community. The group is open to all U of M Crookston students and currently has some 15 members.
CSSD student chair and sustainability assistant for U of M Crookston's Center for Sustainability, Lisa Gentele asserted, "RecycleMania is all about student awareness. Each person can make a difference everyday by shutting off one light or recycling one bottle."
Chris Waltz, U of M Crookston's Center for Sustainability's energy conservation specialist supported by Minnesota GreenCorps and recent graduate also showed enthusiasm for RecycleMania, "We are really excited to be participating in such a large competition. Our goal is to be up there in rankings with larger universities like the University of North Dakota and the Twin Cities campus."
Waltz and Gentele recently earned an $11,000 Clean Energy Resources Teams (CERTs) grant for the Center of Sustainability. The grant will support students being paired with a faculty or staff member to address two projects: conduct a feasibility study for a methane digester and measure building-to-building energy use.
RecycleMania is a recycling program created not just to increase recycling participation by students and staff but to raise awareness of current waste management and recycling practices. RecycleMania is a way for students to learn to address environmental issues in a positive way. The program hopes to inspire colleges and universities to expand their waste reduction programs on campus. The 2010 RecycleMania competition will run from Sunday January 17 to Saturday March 27.
The RecycleMania program was founded in 2001 by Ed Newman of Ohio University and Stacy Edmonds Wheeler of Miami University. These students thought that something needed to be done to increase recycling on campus so they started a competition between their universities to see who could recycle the most over the 10 week competition. RecycleMania has quickly grown over the last 9 years to include 510 colleges and universities across the nation. To learn more, visit www.recyclemania.org.
Today the University of Minnesota, Crookston delivers more than 25 bachelor's degree programs and 50 concentrations, including several online degrees, in agriculture and natural resources; arts, humanities and social sciences; business; and math, science and technology. With an enrollment of about 1,300 undergraduates, the Crookston campus offers a supportive, close-knit atmosphere that leads to a prestigious University of Minnesota degree. "Small Campus. Big Degree." To learn more, visit www.umcrookston.edu.
Contact: Peter Phaiah, Associate Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, 281-281-8505 (phaiah@umn.edu), Elizabeth Kern, communications assistant, 218-281-8446 (kernx088@umn.edu), Elizabeth Tollefson, assistant director, communications, 218-281-8432 (ltollefs@umn.edu)
