High Grades for RecycleMania Make Suffolk a Top "Green College"

In a national competition between over 267 colleges and universities to see which could collect the most recyclables and least trash per capita over a 10-week period, Suffolk University placed 28th in the combined “Grand Champion” category.

The goals of RecycleMania are to “increase recycling participation by students and staff and heighten awareness of schools' waste management and recycling programs,” according to its website.

“Suffolk University has a relatively new recycling program,” said Erica Mattison, Suffolk University’s Campus Sustainability Coordinator, describing the school’s ability to recycle everything from cardboard and cans to electronic waste and organic trash.

In Massachusetts, Suffolk placed third out of 18 participating schools with a cumulative recycling rate of 47.38%. “We are looking forward to matching or beating this next year,” said Mattison.

“We’ve done better each year [in RecycleMania],” said Mattison. “Our first year we placed in the top 50%, the next two years we were in the top 20%, and this year we’re in the top 10% and the top 30 nationally.”

Although unrelated in competition to Recycle Mania, Suffolk's environmental initiatives also got it named in "The Princeton Review's Guide to 286 Green Colleges," added Mattison.

The Review annually publishes a guide to 286 American colleges and universities that have showed an “exemplary commitment to sustainability,” according to its website. Suffolk received recognition for having a formal sustainability committee and a sustainability officer, for providing an Environmental Studies degree, and for constructing LEED certified buildings.

A local competition between Suffolk’s residence halls was also held this semester to see which had the highest recycling rate, the victor being Miller Hall, who were treated to an ice-cream party.