HPU places 3rd in NC for per person recycling
By Olivia French
HPU competed once again in Recyclemania, an eight-week challenge that began on Feb 5 and concluded on April 6. Involving more than 600 colleges around the country, Recyclemania is described as a “friendly competition and benchmarking tool for college and university recycling programs to promote waste reduction activities to their campus communities.”
Designed to help raise awareness of recycling on campus communities by measuring the weight of recycled items on campuses, Recyclemania hopes to motivate students and staff to reduce waste, generate attention for on campus recycling programs, encourage colleges to measure the amount of recycling that they put forth as a whole in order to improve programs over time, and host a fair and friendly competition in the national college community.
There are two divisions of Recyclemania: the Competition Division, in which the schools strive to recycle more materials per person and through various campus departments, such as auxiliary services, and the Benchmark Division, where the schools measure how much each student recycles on their own. HPU competed in the Benchmark division, placing third in the state in per person recycling.
Recycling receptacles are prominent on the HPU campus, not only during Recyclemania but year round. Recycling bins are placed directly beside trashcans so that students can recycle their glass, paper and plastic easily.
Opportunities for recycling are available year round at HPU.
“We strive to provide the opportunity for recycling in as many locations as possible and push to set a standard for the community with our actions,” said Troy Thompson, Director of Campus Enhancement.
By the seventh week of competition, HPU had recycled 78,013 pounds, with a ratio of 20.72 pounds per student. The campus saw a greenhouse gas reduction of 87 metric tons of CO2 Equivalent, the same amount as 46 cars off the road, or the energy consumption of 23 households.
In 2011, the 630 schools that participated in the competition recycled a total of 91 million pounds of materials, and 127,553 metric tons of CO2 Equivalent.
HPU was named one of the greenest campuses in America by the Sierra Club this past year, and the results of Recyclemania definitely reflect that.
“When we set our mind to something as a campus, we can make an enormous impact on our surroundings,” said Thompson.
Students wishing to learn more about High Point’s green initiative can visit http://greenteam.highpoint.edu.