SBU Recycles Most E-Waste Among All U.S. Colleges and Universities in RecycleMania 2013
University reduces greenhouse gases by the equivalent of 85 households while recycling more material than any other SUNY school
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| SBU graduate students Robert Drago and Samantha Kloeckener drop off recyclables at one of the University’s many recycling receptacles. |
STONY BROOK, NY, April 17, 2013 – Stony Brook University outperformed the competition in RecycleMania 2013 by recycling the most total pounds of e-waste of all colleges and universities in the nation, and capturing the coveted prize of recycling the most bottles, cans, cardboard and paper out of all SUNY colleges and universities.
Stony Brook tripled the quantity of e-waste compared to last year by recycling more than 120,300 pounds of materials, which beat the second highest competitor, Purdue University, by more than 5,000 pounds. In the competition’s “Gorilla” category, which ranks colleges and universities by the total weight of recycled bottles, cans, cardboard and paper, Stony Brook finished first out of all SUNY’s for the second consecutive year and 21st in the nation by recycling 526,733 pounds of material.
“We are very proud of our University community, including our Department of Recycling & Resource Management and Division of Information Technology staff, who came together and highlighted our commitment to ‘live’ sustainability,” said James O’Connor, Director of Sustainability & Transportation Operations. “Through help from students, faculty and staff, we were able to continue our recycling success and minimize our environmental
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| Stony Brook University students display their pledge to help the environment. |
impact.”
This year, the University focused on promoting e-waste recycling by offering complimentary pickup services and increased coordination between Procurement, Property Control and the Division of Information Technology, which helped yield tremendous awareness and quantity of material. The term “e-waste” refers to computers, printers, screens, toner/ink cartridges, cell phones, televisions, CDs and other electronics which are recycled.
“This year was an exciting time to compete in RecycleMania, thanks in large part to the friendly, competitive nature of many members of our University community, who not only wanted to see our great University place well in national standings, but also to make a difference for the environment,” said Michael Youdelman, Manager of Recycling & Resource Management at Stony Brook. “We truly knocked it out of the park with this year’s recycling initiatives.”
Stony Brook also improved in the “Waste Minimization” category by decreasing its waste by 12.81 pounds per person year over year, which is an indicator that Stony Brook generated less waste and reduced its resource consumption.
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| As part of the “internal” RecycleMania contest, each quad competed against each other to make the best bulletin boards to exemplify what RecycleMania is about. These students reused newspaper to create a RecycleMania Tournament bulletin board to help promote the initiative. |
By participating in RecycleMania, Stony Brook University reduced greenhouse gases by the CO2 equivalent of 982 metric tons, which equates to removing 192 cars from the road or the energy consumed by 85 households.
Stony Brook will look to continue its recycling and sustainability success next year in RecycleMania 2014, which is tentatively scheduled for February 2 to March 29, 2014.
For more information about Stony Brook University’s participation in RecycleMania, please visit: https://www.stonybrook.edu/recyclemania
For more information about Stony Brook University’s sustainability efforts, please visit: https://www.stonybrook.edu/sustainability
For more information about RecycleMania, please visit: http://www.recyclemaniacs.org
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© Stony Brook University 2012
