The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is participating in RecycleMania, a nationwide competition to promote waste reduction, through March 31.
Each spring, RecycleMania pits colleges and universities in the United States and Canada against one another to motivate students, faculty and staff to increase their recycling efforts.
The competition also aims to draw attention toward campus recycling programs, encourage measurement of recycling activity, and educate faculty, staff and students on the importance of reducing, reusing and recycling.
Nebraska participated in RecycleMania in 2014 and over the eight-week competition found a reduction in waste.
“Our participation in the past has resulted in great success,” said Prabhakar “Prabs” Shrestha, director of the Office of Sustainability. “We’d like the campus community to do their part during this period to promote recycling on campus.”
The campus community, including Sustain UNL and ASUN’s Environmental Leadership Program, are bringing back the competition with the help of the Office of Sustainability. Over the eight-week period, the university will report the amount of waste and recycling collected to RecycleMania, which will rank the data and compare it to other participating schools.
“Competing against other universities makes our sustainable efforts that much more rewarding,” said Rebecca Schrack, director of the Environmental Leadership Program.
The groups will organize outreach, events and activities to get the university buzzing about recycling.
“I’m excited to engage with students and faculty about the importance of sustainability and want each person to know they can make a difference by making simple changes in their day to day life,” Schrack said.
Those with ideas on how to participate or engage the university community should contact sustainability@unl.edu or recycling@unl.edu. Follow the Office of Sustainability on Twitter at @UNL_OS.
