IU falls behind Purdue, average in RecycleMania

If the Old Oaken Bucket were a recycling bin, it would not be in IU’s possession.

The recycling and waste reduction rates at the IU-Bloomington campus are significantly lower than those of Purdue University, colleges across the country and the nationwide standards.

This data comes from IU’s participation in RecycleMania, an eight-week competition among 630 college campuses that aims to get students involved in the green initiative.

“Recycling and waste reduction is one of the most direct, meaningful ways that individuals can take personal responsibility for improving the environment,” said Alec Cooley, national program manager of RecycleMania.

Thus far, results from the two “preseason” weeks and the first official week of the competition show that IU is struggling to take that responsibility.

IU is currently ranked below Purdue, Ohio State University, University of Michigan and 153 other schools.

Last week, the campus recycling rate was 18.6 percent. The national recycling rate is 33.8 percent, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

With six weeks left in the competition, those involved with RecycleMania are working hard to get recycling rates back to where they stood last year, when IU came out on top of all the schools in its competition division, including Purdue, Butler University and the University of Notre Dame.

“Last year, our recycling rate finished at an average of 26.8 percent,” RecycleMania Coordinator Steve Akers said. “I would love for us to hit 30 percent this year.”
Cooley, who reviews the results of all 630 participating schools, said the key to improvement is clear.

“The schools that are most successful in participating are the ones that engage all areas of campus, not just a few custodial managers who are pushing recycling,” Cooley said.

Akers and his team are trying to involve many groups on campus, including IU Athletics, to make recycling as convenient as possible for those on campus.

“We are trying to make recycling a second-nature kind of behavior,” said graduate student Meredith Dowling, an intern for the Office of Sustainability. “There is an effort to make sure that anywhere there is a trash can, there is a recycling bin.”

Recycle bins at athletic events, in offices and outdoors are all targets of this initiative.

“If you go to any outdoor waste can on campus, I guarantee 30 to 50 percent of the so-called ‘waste’ that is  in there is recyclable,” Akers said. “We have huge potential there.”

The RecycleMania team is hoping initiatives like these will help jump-start IU’s success in this year’s competition. Despite a slow start, Dowling said that she thinks that IU can and should catch up. It just takes small changes she said.

“In a very simple way, people can make a big difference on their campus, in their lives and in the wider world,” Dowling said.