[flowplayer video=”mp4:recyclympics” width=”480″ height=”270″ scaling=”scale” splash=”https://news.utk.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/recyclympics-bobble-head.jpg” captions=”https://news.utk.edu/media/recyclympics.xml” /]
KNOXVILLE – On a sunny and warm Friday afternoon in March, about 100 students and staff at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, could be seen stacking aluminum cans, shot-putting phonebooks and throwing old Lane Kiffin bobble-head dolls down the TRECS intramural fields.
It was all part of Recyclympics, an event that featured nine interactive activities aimed at bringing awareness to recycling on campus in an entertaining way.
Recyclympics is part of RecycleMania, which is a 10-week competition among more than 600 college and university recycling programs. For this year’s competition, UT Knoxville’s recycling program took on the University of Florida. The goal was to recycle more than the Gators. According to the most recent data, the Volunteers have recycled 4.86 pounds per person and the Gators have recycled 7.13 pounds per person. The competition ended on March 27 and final results will be posted April 16.
“Recyclympics was a fun event. We really just wanted people to come out, enjoy the beautiful day and learn a bit about recycling in the process,” said Jay Price, UT environmental coordinator. “Recycling is fun. It’s easy. It saves resources and that fits into the overall plan of being climate neutral because everyone contributes.”
Price said the university aims to make recycling as easy as possible.
“Instead of putting things in the trash bin, just put them in the recycle bin,” he said. “Recycling is important because all of us generate waste. And recycling is a way that we can take that waste and do something with it.”
The Recyclympics was sponsored by UT Recycles, Make Orange Green and UT Athletics. For more information about the Recyclympics, RecycleMania and the UT Knoxville recycling program, visit http://www.pp.utk.edu/Recycle.
—
C O N T A C T:
Jay Price (865-974-9409, jayprice@utk.edu)