After a 10-week recycling competition of more than 550 schools across the nation, the grand prize of green from Recyclemania has been awarded to the University of California - San Marcos, after its student body recycled more than 78 percent of its generated waste. Kudos to you California!

 

Here in the newly thawed and blossoming tundra of Minnesota, my University of St. Thomas came in second among the four other schools competing. After recycling more than 100,000 pounds of waste during the competition, we generated about a 32 percent rate of recycling. It's been documented that the average person throws away about 90 percent of everything he or she buys after six months. That alone illustrates the potential for generating waste. This extravaganza helps show how that 90 percent can be reused, and how simple it can be. 

 

It's great that student organizations took the opportunity Recyclemania offered and twisted a bit of competition into conservation, but 10 weeks of green will fade as quickly as a spring break suntan. Let's keep the competitive nature alive, but this time the challenge doesn't need to be school against school. This time we can challenge ourselves together to all compete against waste. Us vs. garbage, Round One ... begin!

 

Photo credit: The Aquin (University of St. Thomas student newspaper)