It’s that time of year again — time for Valencia to compete with more than 400 colleges and universities in RecycleMania, a friendly competition among college and university recycling programs in North America and Canada.
Valencia has competed in RecycleMania for five years — and in 2012 and 2013, the college won first place nationally in the “waste minimization” category. Our prize? The Mr. Pin Man Trophy. (Ok, he’s not beautiful, but he’s made from recycled materials, folks.)
In RecycleMania, colleges compete in various categories to collect the largest amount of recyclables per student and employee, the largest amount of total recyclables, the least amount of trash per student and employees, or have the highest recycling rate. Valencia is the only two-year college in Florida participating in the contest.
Our competition category, “waste minimization,” means that during the next month and a half, we need to reduce the amount of trash and recycled materials leaving the college. To help Valencia win again, please do the following over the eight-week competition period (Feb. 2 through March 29):
• Use the campus recycling bins for aluminum cans, plastic bottles and mixed paper;
• Use the trash cans marked “landfill,” only for non-recyclable materials;
• Do not bring recyclables from home to put in campus bins. (RecycleMania reflects only our college’s trash and recycling).
Throughout the eight-week competition Recycling Coordinators Marty Campbell and Boris Feijoo, both of Osceola Campus, will report weekly the total weight of recyclables and trash for all campuses.
RecycleMania is a project of Keep America Beautiful with support by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s WasteWise program and the College & University Recycling Coalition.