Recyclemania

Sara-June Bouillon- Staff Writer

Recyclemania is happening right now on campus until the end of the semester. Each residence hall is competing against one another. Recyclables will be weighed every weekend and the residence hall that recycles most will win a prize!
Already three weeks into the program, tons of prizes have been given out— so help make your hall the next winner! To help increase the amount of recyclables in your hall, please check out the signs in each garbage/recycling room that show what is and isn’t recyclable, and make sure to recycle items that are free of fluids to make it easier for workers at the zero-sort recycling company to process our recyclables.
To give a little more information about Recyclemania, Hannah Morgan and ResLife worked together to create a program that allows students to become sustainability coordinators for the residence halls. Every hall has one sustainability coordinator and their job is to put on programs and education events that increase sustainability in the residence halls. Sustainability coordinators are there to help make a more sustainable campus and to take suggestions from residents. So, if you have any ideas about ways to make your hall greener, more environmentally friendly or sustainable, just let them know!
Students play a huge role in improving campus sustainability. I am glad to see Recyclemania take-off and be as successful as it is, and I would like to say thank you to all the students, faculty and staff that work every day to make SUNY Oneonta a staple of sustainability in higher education.
I would also like to place Hannah Morgan in the spotlight for all of the hard-work she puts in to creating a more environmentally conscious campus. Ever since Hannah Morgan became our sustainability coordinator, sustainability initiatives are becoming more successful and widespread. SUNY Oneonta won a million dollar grant to begin a rain garden project that will help construct rain gardens that capture storm water runoff from campus to prevent flooding in downtown Oneonta. Solar Panels will be installed on the roof of IRC in March. Sustainability grants have been awarded to students to start their own environmentally friendly and sustainable education projects. The list goes on, but these are a few accomplishments to note.
Good luck everyone, and keep recycling. Help make your hall the next winner, and keep reaching out to Hannah Morgan and your residence hall sustainability coordinator with ideas about making our campus more sustainable.