The Orange is vamping up its efforts to go green.

Syracuse University is competing in a nationwide competition titled RecycleMania, which is an eight-week competition that will determine who can reduce, reuse and recycle the most on-campus waste. The goal of the competition is to motivate students and staff to increase recycling efforts and reduce waste generation, according to RecycleMania’s website. All students are encouraged to participate.

Schools compete in eight categories, such as waste minimization — to recycle the most on a per capita basis — according to the website.

Some SU students have begun to see waste reduction as a worthy cause, too.

“I try and recycle every day, and I think if you take ten seconds out of your day to make sure that your trash goes in the right places, you can really make a difference,” said Rohan Krishnan, a freshman advertising and information management major.

He added that he will participate in the contest because he is competitive and thinks recycling is an important cause.

Melissa Cadwell, marketing manager in the SU Sustainability Division, said the competition “is a fun way to engage the campus community and stress the importance of recycling and reducing our waste, not just during the eight-week competition, but every day of the year.”

The Sustainability Division is responsible for Syracuse’s participation in the competition, Cadwell said. She added that this is the first year that SU will be competing in the competition division rather than the benchmark division.

In the 2013 competition, SU finished with a 35.2 percent recycling rate, which was the second highest in the benchmark division, according to RecycleMania’s website. SU is one of 31 schools in New York State participating in RecycleMania.

In total, 461 schools across North America are competing in RecycleMania with six Canadian institutions competing.

At press time, SU was ranked 25th of 85 competition division schools with a 39.7 percent recycling rate.

The competition ends on March 30 and a winner will be announced upon the conclusion of the eight-weeks.

Winning schools receive an award made out of recyclable materials, and earn the right to host that category’s special traveling trophy for the coming year, according to RecycleMania’s website.

Although RecycleMania is only an eight-week competition, Students of Sustainability at SU provides year-round events to fulfill their mission statement of making SU services as sustainable as possible, Cadwell said.

Students of Sustainability at SU, an on-campus organization that promotes environmental sustainability, is helping with the competition by bringing awareness through social media, Cadwell said.

“The water tasting is all about having the community taste our tap and filter tap water against bottled water to bring awareness to the community that SU has great tasting water on campus,” she said.

SU has made a strong push to “Go Green” and recycle in recent years. Since 1990, SU has had recycling bins in every building for collection of paper, cardboard, glass, plastic and metal recyclables, according to an SU news article.

The website also stated that SU’s recycling rate is approximately 48 percent, a rate very close to the national average.

Published on February 5, 2014 at 12:43 am

Contact Justin: jmatting@syr.edu | @jmattingly306