They're not going for the gold, they're going for the green.
USC has been participating in RecycleMania, a competition that pits USC against other universities across the nation in an intense recycling battle. The goal of this friendly competition is to encourage universities to recycle as much as possible starting Feb. 1 and running until March 28.
“I think it is important for USC students because it teaches good habits for life,” said Brigitte Shumpert, a civil engineering student and RecycleMania participant.
The goals of the competition are to motivate students and staff to increase their recycling efforts and reduce waste, generate attention and support for campus recycling programs and encourage the university to measure its recycling activity to lead to improving the recycling programs over time.
USC is competing against universities across the nation, as well as a few in Canada, but for Shumpert, USC’s biggest competition is “of course Clemson!”
Over the years, Shumpert believes they have become a stronger and more successful team and are closer than ever to reaching their goals for RecycleMania.
This week is the final push for the organization, and USC RecycleMania’s total goal for the year is 480,000 pounds. According to Shumpert, they’re already more than halfway there. She hopes they will reach their goal by the end of the week when the competition ends.
“The [RecycleMania] team wants to make sure students know what can be recycled and why it is important to recycle,” Shumpert said. “RecycleMania has given our campus a reason to teach everyone about recycling.”
A lot of the team’s efforts this year have been focused on the social media competition between the schools. Currently, USC holds the No. 2 spot in the social media category.
Using the hashtags #reduce, #reuse and #recycle in combination with #uofsc and @recyclemaniacs earns the team points which they use to advance in the social media rankings.
Although there isn’t a big prize for winning the competition, the bragging rights and recyclable trophy are enough for Shumpert.
“It is great for the environment and it makes our University look that much better to show that we strive to recycle all that we can here on campus,” she said.