How many colleges and universities belong to the NCAA’s Division I? 342
How many colleges and universities are participating in the 2009 Recyclemania? 510
College sports fans will likely say “That’s not an accurate comparison, Jeff.” They’re probably right… but, the question remains: Have you ever heard of Recyclemania?
I hadn’t until checking my feed reader today. Apparently, I’m not alone: I checked most of the other
big green blogs, and found nary a mention in any posts. There was
one passing mention of it on Ecolocalizer, but it was far from the focus of the post.
Now, I don’t bring up this lack of coverage (at least within the green web) to criticize anyone, but rather to express my amazement — this thing’s huge! Founded in 2001 “as a friendly challenge between recycling coordinators at two schools in Ohio, Miami University and Ohio University,” Recyclemania now coordinates participating colleges and universities from all 50 US states, the District of Columbia, and, for the first time, schools from outside the United States.
By Robin Shreeves •
November 11, 2008
November 15th is officially America Recycles Day. Sponsored by the National Recycling Coalition, America Recycles Day
is the only nationally recognized day dedicated to encouraging Americans to recycle and to buy recycled products. Celebrating its 11th year, it has grown to include millions of Americans pledging to increase their recycling habits at home and work and to buy products made with recycled materials.
I know that attention needs to be called to recycling so I don’t have a problem with the National Recycling Coalition sponsoring this day.
What I have to wonder, though, is why isn’t America at the point where a day like this is obsolete? Why do we need to have a special day to remind us to recycle? Why isn’t recycling so ingrained in our life that we don’t even think twice about it? Shouldn’t every day be America Recycles Day by now?
I already know one of the answers. For so long we’ve been focused on convenience and recycling can seem inconvenient. I realized just how inconvenient some people viewed it when my town went to single stream, or co-mingled, recycling pick up. Instead of having to separate the items that are picked up in our curbside recycling program, residents can now put them all in one container. I found out at our town Green Team meeting that this would increase how much gets recycled in our town.
I asked why. I was told that statistically, people are much more willing to recycle when they don’t have to separate items.
Seriously? Some people won’t separate their paper from their cans/bottles? It’s too much work?
