VCU Goes Greener

By Alexandra Klingelhut

Virginia Commonwealth University’s commitment to sustainability is always growing. It consistently places high on national and international rankings for campus sustainability. Last month, the university hosted the state’s first energy and sustainability conference for business leaders.

This month, VCU’s dedication to going green continues to sprout as it kicks off its sixth year participating in the RecycleMania Competition, competing against more than 600 universities in the United States and Canada.

The eight-week competition serves as a benchmarking tool for colleges and allows them to improve their recycling and waste reduction efforts based on the results. The competition generates support for campus recycling programs and motivates students to participate.

The university has proven to be supportive of RecycleMania in previous year, said Steve Heinitz, recycling and reuse coordinator.

“It is an event that everyone can support by minimizing the waste that they generate daily and recycling as much of their waste as possible,” he said.

VCU’s “Think Green Guide” provides tips for students and staff to reduce waste on campus. One way to reduce waste is to avoid purchasing single-use items such as razors and paper plates and to instead opt for durable and reusable products. When grocery shopping, bring cloth bags or used plastic bags. Another tip is to fill reusable water bottles at one of the 30 bottle filling stations on either campus.

The university’s current recycling program is successful and constantly growing. The school has 45 recycling containers and 22 “Big Belly” solar compacters across both the Monroe Park and MCV campuses. The Big Belly containers use solar energy to compact trash, allowing them to hold more waste than a regular trash can and reduce the frequency of trash pickups. VCU also offers multiple off-campus recycling drop-off sites.

Additionally, VCU signed a new contract with Virginia Waste Services in August that specifies the university’s intent to become a Zero Waste university, Heinitz said.

Zero Waste is not the same as recycling. It is the process of conserving and reusing all resources to ensure materials are neither burned nor buried. Zero Waste typically carries a goal of 90 percent diversion from a landfill, Heinitz said. This means that almost no waste ends up at a landfill.

“VCU Facilities Management [wants to] look at all of our operations to see where we can make improvements to minimize the amount of solid waste generated and increase our diversion rate,” he said.

For the time being, VCU participates in friendly competitions such as RecycleMania to increase environmental awareness and change.

The annual event began in 2001 as a challenge between two schools, Ohio University and Miami University. The recycling coordinators from both schools wanted to extend their existing sports rivalry and create a competition that would motivate students to recycle more. Since then, the event has become so popular that hundreds of colleges participate each year.

Last year, the competition collectively recycled and composted 94.4 million pounds of waste. This reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 148,897 MtCO2e — Metric Tonne Carbon Dioxide Equivalent, the standard unit used to measure the emissions.

For more information about RecycleMania, visit http://recyclemaniacs.org/.

 

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