Leah Goldman

ATHENS, GA

To find out more visit: http://sustainability.uga.edu/recyclemania/

U-G-A is number one in the S-E-C but no, it’s not for what you think. This time Georgia’s bragging rights are for recycling. This spring U-G-A will be one of many colleges across the country and Canada participating in RecycleMania. The compeition branches off of the Keep America Beauitiful. The program will measure the amount of recycling and trash turned in each week. Which school generates the least amount and who has the best recycling rate.

Sustainability coordinator Andrew Lentini at U-G-A’s Office of Sustainability just wants campus to recycle. 

“What works best for U-G-A is to just make you think about recycling rather than trying to bring it to the next level and compete against somebody else.”

Instead of focusing on their competitors, the program has turned it into a competition between the buildings on campus. First up, the Grady school of journalism verse the pyscology building. 
“The ones we chose, like Grady and pyscology, those buildings are almost identicial. So it was a good way to compare them.”

These competitions might have great advertising, but do they really take hold with students and faculty? 

“Not at our school. We haven’t seen that big a rise. Though our recycle rates get better every year. We really use recyclemania as a vehicle to get the concept of recycling out and in front of people.”

Recyclemania will feature a different building match-up each week until the end of the competition on March 29th. The winning school will receive national recognition, an award made for recycled materials, and a special trophy.