Skip to Navigation
University of Pittsburgh
Print This Page Print this pages

January 26, 2012

RecycleMania features new electronics collection

recyclemaniaThe Pittsburgh campus is gearing up for the annual RecycleMania challenge, a 10-week competition that aims to increase recycling and waste minimization efforts at colleges and universities across the country.

The challenge began Jan. 22 with two weeks of trial collections that won’t count toward the totals, followed by eight competition weeks that run Feb. 5-March 31.

Last year, the campus collected 473,247.5 pounds of materials. This year’s final results are expected to be announced April 13.

Organizers are asking faculty and staff to take advantage of the March 4 recess week and do a bit of spring-cleaning to free their workspaces of unneeded office paper and other recyclables. Facilities Management can provide extra recycling containers upon request, said Laura Zullo, Facilities Management’s senior manager of energy initiatives.

Given that Pitt fell a few bottles and cans short of its goal last year (with 11.92 pounds per person) Zullo said this year’s RecycleMania goal will remain at 12 pounds of recyclables per person: 7 pounds of corrugated cardboard, 1 pound of bottles and cans and 4 pounds of paper.

In addition to collecting cardboard, bottles, cans and paper, Pitt will take part in a new month-long “e-CycleMania” pilot collection of electronics recyclables, Zullo said.

Pitt’s electronics collection, which will take place Feb. 5-March 5, is based on weight and coordinated in conjunction with Surplus Property. Computers, printers and other office electronics, inkjet and toner cartridges, batteries, cellphones, consumer electronics and ancillary items such as chargers, cords and headsets are among the items that can be recycled as part of the pilot.

To arrange for electronics collection, use Surplus Property’s online pickup request form at www.pts.pitt.edu/surplus/pickup.htm or call 412/244-7071.

To request recycling containers, email recycle@fm.pitt.edu.

Additional information on recycling at Pitt and on the campus’s RecycleMania efforts can be found by clicking on “recycling” at www.facmgmt.pitt.edu.

The RecycleMania competition is a program of the RecycleMania steering committee in coordination with the College and University Recycling Coalition. Information and competition results are available at www.recyclemaniacs.org.

—Kimberly K. Barlow


Leave a Reply