University Times

The Pittsburgh campus surpassed its per-capita recycling goal and improved its performance amid increasing competition in the annual RecycleMania challenge. Final results were posted April 13.

The campus collected 12.02 pounds per person over the course of the eight-week challenge, surpassing its goal of 12 pounds per person and earning the University a No. 137 rank in the per capita category among 605 colleges and universities that competed to boost recycling and reduce waste. Union College in Schenectady, N.Y., ranked No. 1 with 61.79 pounds per person.

Last year, the Pittsburgh campus fell slightly short of its goal with 11.92 pounds per person, placing No. 142 of 363 schools.

Will Mitchell, Facilities Management’s senior manager of custodial services, said, “In years past we have flirted with the benchmark but we can officially say that we crossed that mark this year. … I am excited to see that we met or exceeded our overall goals for the program. The student, faculty and staff dedication and commitment to the program shows how we are evolving as a campus community to be a more sustainable institution and a strong leader in the region in regard to continued sustainable practices.”

Mitchell noted that the campus finished among the top half of competitors in all categories except commingled materials.

He was especially pleased with the volume of material recycled overall.

“We are showing progress, but we want more,” he said. “By volume we generated almost 1 million pounds of landfill waste during the program. If the standard calculations on what is most likely recyclable — about 75 percent of your waste — was recycled, we would have potentially had as little as a few hundred thousand pounds of landfill waste. That is an amazing possibility for an institution this size.”

Pitt ranked 94th in its overall recycling rate with 34.11 percent of its total waste being recycled (up from 26.16 percent in 2011).  American University was this year’s grand champion with a recycling rate of 85.16 percent.

The campus’s highest ranking came in a pilot collection of recyclable electronics in which Pitt was 25th with 10,415 pounds. Purdue University took first place in the new category with 69,965 pounds.

Mitchell said he was pleased with the amount collected on campus, commending Surplus Property for taking charge of collecting and reporting. He said the electronics collection is not well-known on campus, but is a long-term program. “We really want to get the word out.”

• In the gorilla category, which measures the total amount recycled, Pitt ranked No. 33 with 478,650 pounds (up from 473,247.5 pounds last year). Rutgers placed first with 2,489,528 pounds.

• Pitt ranked No. 82 in waste minimization with 35.23 pounds of waste per capita (down from 45.56 pounds in 2011), close to the goal of 35 pounds per person. Valencia College in Orlando, Fla., took first place with 2.75 pounds per capita. The category measures the amount of solid waste generated per person.

• In individual materials recycling, Pitt surpassed its goal of 4 pounds of paper per person with 4.21 pounds (up from 3.69 pounds), good for a No. 79 ranking. Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill., topped the category with 31.84 pounds per capita.

In corrugated cardboard recycling, Pitt surpassed its goal of 7 pounds per capita with 7.09 pounds, placing No. 37, but fell slightly from last year’s collection of 7.43 pounds. Union College ranked first with 29.42 pounds per capita.

The campus fell below its goal of recycling 1 pound of bottles and cans per person, collecting 0.72 pounds (down from 0.8 pounds) and ranking No. 104. Kalamazoo College ranked No. 1 with 14.05 pounds per capita.

• Pitt ranked No. 118 in food service organics with 0.24 pounds per capita (up from 0.19 pounds). Bard College in Red Hook, N.Y., placed first with 31.27 pounds.

Looking ahead, Mitchell said the organics category is an area in which Pitt could boost its performance. Trash audits have shown that organics make up a significant portion of the campus’s waste stream. “I would like to see some additional programming geared toward the recovery and recycling of these materials,” he said. “We will explore this leading up to next year’s competition to see what can be done to better our performance in this category.”

According to RecycleMania’s organizers, the Pittsburgh campus community’s efforts saved the equivalent of 347 metric tons of carbon dioxide, which equates to taking 184 cars off the road or the energy consumption of 92 households.

RecycleMania is a program of the non-profit RecycleMania, Inc., which is governed by a steering committee of recycling and sustainability managers from participating universities. The program is managed by Keep America Beautiful.

Program support comes through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s WasteWise program, the College & University Recycling Coalition and corporate sponsors The Coca Cola Company, Waste Management, SCA Tissue, Alcoa, America Forest & Paper Association and HP.

Full results are available at http://recyclemaniacs.org.

—Kimberly K. Barlow