Recyclemania is an eight-week competition that colleges and universities, like Baldwin Wallace University, can participate in to promote waste reduction activities within the campus community.

BW has been involved in the Recyclemania program since 2010 and the program continues to grow on campus each year.

According to the Recyclemania official website, the competition is measured by colleges reporting the amount of recycled trash that was collected at the institution every week. Colleges are then ranked in different categories based on which school recycles the most on a per capita basis. BW is typically ranked 50^th to 70th out of the more than 1000 schools that participate.

Director of Residence Life, Robin Gagnow, decided to implement the Recyclemania program at BW. As a member of the sustainability committee since 2008, Gagnow wanted to encourage students to become more sustainable.

“I liked the Recyclemania program because it was national and very organized. The program provides printable logos and downloadable flyers. I thought joining the Recyclemania program was better than starting a program from scratch.” said Gagnow.

Hall director, James Workman, hopes for BW to improve their ranking in the competition this year and even move into the Top 25. Workman says that BW’s past rankings have been encouraging and show that BW is a sustainable campus.

“This program is important, because it shows everyone on campus that we are capable of becoming more sustainable.” said Workman.

Aside from placing in the Top 25, both Workman and Robin Gagnow have other goals to grow awareness of the program on campus.

This year, advertisements and flyers can be seen around residence halls promoting the Recyclemania event. There are also digital displays around campus and BW’s rankings in the Recyclemania program will be posted throughout residence halls once the first set of rankings are released.

The easiest way for BW students to become involved with the Recyclemania program is to simply recycle. However, there is a group of students called the “RA Eco Reps”, whose job is to organize programs that promote sustainability and conversation. Workman says that the RA Eco Reps have helped encourage students at BW to participate in Recyclemania.

While the Recyclemania competition has commenced for 2018, Gagnow and Workman are already looking forward to improving the Recyclemania competition for next year. Gagnow would like to partner with BW’s student government and their sustainability committee. Gagnow would also like to get more faculty members involved with Recyclemania.

“I would like to see the entire campus community become involved with Recyclemania rather than just the residence halls.” said Gagnow.

The Recyclemania competition will be continuing until April on the BW campus.