Campus Race to Zero Waste

Campus Race to Zero Waste is coming to the Southern Miss campus January 31st through March 31st. This event is a national recycling and waste reduction competition for colleges across the U.S. and Canada.  The goal of the competition is to engage and motivate students and staff to reduce waste and increase reuse and recycling efforts.  

You can do your part by eliminating single-use plastics and carrying reusables such as coffee mugs, water bottles, and shopping bags.  Toss your recyclable waste into a blue bin which is located in every classroom, office space, and dorm room on campus.  For details on “what’s recyclable” click here:  https://www.usm.edu/sustainability/recycling_services  

·        February 8th - 10th: Learn the Label  Join us at various locations on campus as we educate how to properly recycle materials. We will explain terminologies such as ‘Wish’cycling and ‘Pre’cycling, the differences in plastics, and what not to put in our recycling bins. Just follow our social media to know when, where, and what times.

·        February 14th – 18th: Mugshots WANTED: Reusable Mugs! Our staff will be out on campus scouting for anyone using reusable mugs. Get your “mugshot” taken with our fun photo backdrop to be displayed on social media and win a prize.

·        February 21st – 25th: Recycling Bulletin Board Contest Students from res halls compete in creating an educational recycling information board to see whose is the most creative. The winning board will receive coupons from Papa John’s for a FREE  pizza party. 

·        March 7th – 11th:  Caught Green-Handed  If you are “caught” recycling or exhibiting other sustainable behaviors, you will be awarded a reusable tote and a prize of your choice. 

·        March 14th – 18th: Spring Cleaning  If you work on campus, now is the time to go through those old files.  Our recycling staff will arrange special pickups of large amounts of material which will help divert your waste from the landfill and into the recycling stream and reduce your carbon footprint.

We ask that all recyclables be boxed or bagged for easy transport (bags and boxes available via the Office of Sustainability), and that you have everything ready at your scheduled time. Please do not include documents containing confidential information unless they are already shredded.

·        March 19th – April 4th: Dorm Storm  This friendly competition encourages freshman from select residence halls to see who can recycle the most. This year we will challenge Century Park North. The winning building of this two-week competition will get to display the trophy for a year and win a FREE pizza party!