Skidmore competes in recycling contest

For the fist year, Skidmore is participating in Recyclemania, a nationwide recycling competition among institutions of higher education. Eric Fuller, the recently hired sustainability coordinator, motivated this first year of Skidmore's involvement.

To track schools' recycling efforts, the competition weighs waste hauling over the course of six weeks. According to the Recyclemania Web site, we currently stand at 23,860 pounds of waste since Feb. 2, recycling only 7.3 percent of waste. The competition concludes on March 28, a month before the end of the spring semester.

Skidmore's past rates of recycling sparked Fuller's interest in the program. This past year, Skidmore recycled 17-20 percent of the college's waste. Fuller said she hopes to increase the amount of recycled waste, despite the school's poor showing so far.

Even as Recyclemania gets off the ground, Fuller plans another year of the Eco-Rep program, which builds student-led residence hall programming to increase environmental awareness. "It's a great program," Fuller said. "We're just setting up the scaffolding."

She accepts applications beginning March 16, with accepted applicants pre-housed for the next semester.

Fuller and the rest of Sustainable Skidmore is in the progress of conducting a Greenhouse Gas Inventory, which relies upon student surveys to get an idea of the amount of gases released by "college-related activities." According to the Sustainable Skidmore Web site, these gases can have dangerous effects on global climate change. Since Jan. 22, 477 students have taken the survey.

This past year, Skidmore's recycling rate was between 17-20 percent. Fuller plans to increase this recycle rate, despite an average rate of 7.3 percent for the first few weeks of Recyclemania this year.

According to the Recyclemania website, the Skidmore community has recycled 23,860 pounds of waste since the beginning of the competition in February.

Along with Recyclemania, Fuller plans another year of the Eco-Rep program. Applications for Eco-Reps are due March 16, and accepted applicants will be pre-housed for next semester.

"It's a really great program and we're just setting up the scaffolding," Fuller said.

Sustainable Skidmore is also in the process of conducting a Greenhouse Gas Inventory, an effort to "quantify the gases released by college-related activities that contribute to global climate change," according to the Sustainable Skidmore website. So far, 477 students have taken the survey that began on March 22.