USM Set to Enter 2019 RecycleMania Competition
Wed, 01/23/2019 - 04:25pm | By: Van Arnold
Coming off a year that saw an impressive uptick in productivity, The University of Southern Mississippi's Office of Sustainability is gearing up for another run in the 2019 RecycleMania Tournament.
The annual event is a national recycling competition that pits colleges and universities against each other for the title of top recycler. The eight-week competition will be held Feb. 3 - March 30.
Last year, USM wound up recycling 87,420 pounds of material, which put the University in 145th place out of 300 schools that participated. The final total represented an increase of 9,160 pounds from the previous year. The number included materials collected from USM's Gulf Park campus in Long Beach.
“RecycleMania is a good platform that allows us to generate some excitement and visibility of our recycling program,” said Melissa Covington-Olsen, USM sustainability coordinator. “We try to engage the entire campus community to participate in the various events held throughout RecycleMania. This, in turn, helps educate and promote awareness of recycling and other growing environmental concerns.”
Supporting events scheduled on USM's Hattiesburg campus include:
- Recycling Olympics: Feb. 12, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m., Weathersby Lawn
- Pledge Drive: Feb. 19, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m., Shoemaker Square
- Caught Green Handed: Feb. 25-March 8
- Spring Cleaning: March 11-15
- Dorm Storm: March 24-29
To learn more about RecycleMania and sustainability efforts at USM, visit: www.usm.edu/green