RecycleMania 2008!

Choose to Reduce, There's No Excuse!

Want to beat other colleges and universities from across the country, including Ohio State?! Well, your chance is coming.

This winter term, the University of Michigan is once again participating in RecycleMania! RecycleMania is a 10 week competition among colleges and universities across the U.S. to see which school can collect the largest amount of recyclables per capita, the largest amount of total recyclables, the least amount of trash per capita, or have the highest recycling rate over the course of the competition.

This year's competition runs from January 27th to April 5th, 2008. UM will be participating in the Per Capita Classic, Waste Minimization, Gorilla Prize, and Grand Champion competitions. The Per Capita Classic will see who can recycle the highest amount per capita and the Waste Minimization competition will see who can produce the least amount of waste, trash AND recycling included. This emphasizes source reduction and reuse over recycling. The creation of less material that needs to be disposed of saves money, energy, and natural resources. The Gorilla Prize measures the total tonnage of recyclables collected. The Grand Champion competition will see who has the highest recycling rate.

Last year we did a great job! For RecycleMania 2007, UM finished 6th in Waste Minimization, 6th in Gorilla Prize, and 8th in the Grand Champion competition. Even though this is great, we can do even better this year! This means we need your help! UM's Waste Management Services is enlisting the help of all students, faculty, and staff on the Ann Arbor Campus to reduce their waste and recycle the rest as much as possible during this competition (and all the time of course!). See our Waste Prevention Tips for ideas on how you can reduce your wastes and work and at home.

Want to help out with RecycleMania?  Become a RecycleManiac!

Final Results Are In!

UM has finished its 3rd year of participating in RecycleMania! UM students, faculty, and staff did a great job of reducing their waste and recycling the rest. See the tables below to see how UM placed in the different competitions. Keep recycling and get ready for RecycleMania 2009! For more information and a full list of rankings, go to www.recyclemaniacs.org.

In the Gorilla Prize competition (total recycling tonnage) UM finished in 4th place, collecting 955,103.83 lbs. over the 10 weeks of the competition!

For more RecycleMania information, visit www.recyclemaniacs.org. We will also be holding the Recycling Champions Competition again in conjunction with RecycleMania.

Choose to reduce, there’s no excuse!!

Choose to reduce, there’s no excuse! is our slogan for this year’s RecycleMania campaign, but what exactly does it mean to reduce?

Waste reduction means creating less material that must be disposed of, whether it be trashing or recycling. Minimizing wastes saves money, natural resources, and energy. Money is saved because disposing of less material means fewer tip fees and less packaging means lower shipping costs. Also, because fewer materials are consumed, resources such as trees, metals, and water are saved. Lastly, fewer materials being made and shipped can result in enormous energy savings.

How can you reduce wastes? There are several easy ways to greatly reduce the amount of waste you produce. For one, take a look at your purchasing habits. Are you purchasing what you don’t need? Over purchasing items that can expire? Get together with others in your department or building and try purchasing supplies all together to decrease packaging waste and try to purchase items with minimal packaging.

Here are some other easy ways to reduce your waste

• Don’t print agendas - write it up on a board or send out an email prior to the meeting
• Use reusable mugs for your coffee and tea
• Use one-sided paper in your printer for printing drafts
• Bring your lunch in reusable containers and have reusable cups whenever possible

These are only a few of the many ways to reduce wastes. These suggestions are friendly to the environment, you wallet, and will help UM win RecycleMania! For more ideas, see our Waste Reductions Tips section. (link to Waste Reduction Tips page)

Did you know…?

• Americans use 85,000,000 tons of paper a year; about 680 pounds per person
• Plastic generation has increased tenfold from 1960 to 2000
• The average college student produces 640 pounds of waste per year, including 320 pounds of paper
• Every year we fill enough garbage trucks to form a line that would stretch from the earth, halfway to the moon.
• Almost 1/3 of the waste generated the U.S. is packaging.
• The average American office worker goes through around 500 disposable cups every year.
• America is home to 5% of the world's population, yet it consumes 1/3 of the Earth's timber and paper; making paper the largest part of the waste stream at 37.5% of the total waste stream.