Recyclemania results!

Well, after 8 weeks of hard work, both by sustainability employees, students, and staff members, we have the totals for recyclemania!

Our overall recycling rate was at 58%, meaning that 58% of the material that left our campus was recycled. This equaled 285,064 pounds of material recycled. (In case you aren’t aware… thats a lot!!)

Overall, we placed 15th, in a competition of 266 schools. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself

The amount recycled is the equivalent of 40 metric tons of CO2 pollution. This is the same amount of pollution created by 21 cars in a year, or the energy consumption of 11 households in one year. Well done, everybody!

Though we are very happy with the results, we want to be in the top 10 next year. (never settle for just ok, right?). If we are able to maintain our goal of 70% next year, we should place in the top 10 for sure!

If you have any suggestions or ideas about how we can make recycling more accessible to the on-campus community, please drop us a line and let us know! We are always looking for new ways to make our campus a more sustainable place.

 

On another note, we are having a surPLUs swap party this Friday from 12-5! No money needed! Come bring things you dont want, or cannot use anymore, and see if you can swap it for something that you can use

Until next time, stay classy- not trashy. Look for ways to be more sustainable and recycle!

 

We have great n…

We have great news!! Last week, we recycled 68% of all outgoing materials from campus! That is only 2% away from our goal of 70%!! You are all doing a fantastic job of recycling! It is awesome to see the campus making strides towards sustainability.

 

Moving on to more exciting news.. we have some solid details on the art contest happening this Friday.

 

Dates and Times: The Recycled Art Competition will take place on March 9, 2012. The art will be constructed in surPLUs from 4:30-7:00 They will then be moved up to the UC to be displayed that evening until Saturday the 10th. The winners will be announced the following Friday, March 16th.

 

Objective: Using recycled materials provided from sustainability, create an art piece in the allotted time. Sustainability will provide a truck and driver to assist in transportation to the UC upon completion. The completed masterpieces will be on display at the UC as well as PLU Sustainability’s Facebook page. Students will then vote on the sculptures while they are on display, and can also place their votes the following week via Facebook. Each person entering the competition will receive a prize for participating and the winner in each of the three categories will receive an gift card to the PLU Surplus Store!!! (This is exciting!)

 

Categories:

1. Tallest Piece of Art: This is pretty self explanatory; the tallest sculpture will take the prize
2. Most Colorful: This category will be voted on by students, both in person and online. It will be judged based on how many colors are used. Though we love to see colorful art, the winner will likely have to use these colors in a visually pleasing manner…
3. Most Artistic: The category will be judged by students both in person and on line, based on how aesthetically pleasing the piece of art is.

Your pretty pumped now, right? I thought so.

We really hope you come out and participate in the sculpture contest! If you are not able to make it, please swing by the UC to look at the sculptures, and vote on your favorite. Also, dont forget to check the Sustainability Facebook page to cast your vote there as well.

If you have any questions about the contest, feel free to email Sara Patterson at pattersd@plu.edu

Until next time, keep up the good work guys and gals! Be sure to stay tuned, and go make some awesome sculptures on Friday.

 

 

Recyclemania- Week 1 and 2 totals are in!

So in case you haven’t heard, Recyclemania is currently happening here at PLU! Its kind of a big deal..

We have the results from week 1 and week 2 in. Drumroll please….

Week 1 was a great start to the contest. We recycled a total of 1,649 pounds, which was 65% percent of the total amount of waste material that left campus. Our goal is to recycle 70% of what leaves campus. We were almost there!

In week 2, we recycled much more material, but also took more waste to the landfill . We recycled a total of 11,608 pounds of waste items (holy crap that’s a lot, right??), but it only accounted for 58% of the total material that left campus. So, lets keep our eyes on the prize (both the contest, and the goal of 70%), and keep recycling materials that don’t need a one way ticket to the landfill.

Last week, we had the Wasteland showing in surPLUs. We had a good turnout, and are considering hosting a movie once a night in surPLUs. Post up if you are interested in seeing that idea get off the ground!

Next week, we will have more details on the sculpture contest, which I am personally pumped for. Until then, lets keep it more classy than trashy and recycle recycle recycle!