The college continues its efforts toward campus sustainability through a four-week campaign to increase recycling and reduce landfill waste. The campaign is being called Recyclemania, but it’s slightly different than the annual 10-week competition among more than 500 colleges and universities.

Unlike the typical Recyclemania, which doesn’t begin until February, the Madison College Environmental Sustainability Alliance (MESA) launched the campaign Jan. 10. The three primary goals on campus were to increase awareness of waste generation, introduce waste diversion ideas, and educate on how to recycle and reuse waste.

In the first week of Recyclemania students and faculty were asked to consider tracking their trash by keeping a journal. The intent was for people to become more aware of their waste habits in hopes of encouraging increased recycling.

Not only is recycling important for the environment, but it also saves the college money. Recycling costs almost 50 percent less than taking waste to the landfill, according to Thomas Riffle, operations services manager at Madison College.

However, during the 2009-2010 fiscal year Madison Area Technical College produced 138.79 tons of waste, which was almost 10 tons more than the previous year.  In addition, the amount of recycling decreased from the previous year from 87.34 tons to 83.73 tons of recycled material.

For the current fiscal year, which began July 1, numbers are looking slightly better.  Though the college has produced 83.73 tons of waste, it has also recycled 43.59 tons.  The improvement could be partly attributed to single stream recycling, which doesn’t require separating recyclables.

The second week of Recyclemania was dedicated to educating the campus
on the convenience of single stream recycling. Instead of sorting through plastics, glass, aluminum, tin and paper, everything goes in one container. The containers are generally blue and can be located in most classrooms and offices around campus.

One concern with single stream recycling is the risk of contamination, according to Nancy Meyer, co-chair of MESA.

“I feel like I’m the waste police,” said Meyer as she retrieved a tissue from the blue bin. When people throw waste products or even cans of half-empty sodas in the containers there is a risk that everything will end up in a landfill.

In the remaining weeks of Recyclemania, there are plans to circulate the popular slogan “reduce, reuse, recycle,” and promote electronics recycling at the local Goodwill Industries of South Central Wisconsin Inc.