The purpose of PACURC is to bring together the recycling professionals from colleges, universities, and other institutions across the state in order to share ideas, technologies, and successes that can help grow Pennsylvania’s recycling and organics collection and processing.
PA-CURC members host a class at the annual PROP conference which focuses on institutional recycling issues, programs, and emerging technologies. They also organize three additional meetings which are held at schools and institutions located in the East, West, and Central Pennsylvania. The movement of the meeting locations allows the host institution to showcase their facility and it hopefully allows institutions to attend at least one or two of the meetings each year without depleting their limited travel budgets.
In March, 2009, PACURC conducted a successful meeting at Messiah College in Grantham, Cumberland County, PA where attendees heard presentations associated with recycling of batteries, cell phones, and other electronic equipment. Despite inclement weather, participants were also treated to a tour of Messiah’s facility after a lunch hosted by the dining services. During the annual PROP conference in July 2009, PACURC hosted a meeting at the University of Scranton in their DeNaples Center where attendees heard presentations concerning Scranton’s pursuit of LEED certification on the new Science Building as well as mattress recycling information by Ohio Mattress and electronics recycling by Temple University’s Computer Recycling Center. The DeNaples Center recently earned Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver Certification. Once again, participants were treated to a tour of the DeNaples Center which houses, among other uses, a theater, meeting rooms, and a student book store. In October, 2009, PACURC held a meeting at Allegheny College in Meadville, Crawford County, PA. Attendees were treated to a presentation by Reclamere (a data security company), lunch, and a tour of Allegheny College’s food waste composting facility.
During the October meeting, it became clear that despite our best efforts at advertising the meetings, the attendance at the PACURC meetings has begun to diminish for a number of reasons including a decline in everyone’s travel budget. After a lengthy discussion, those in attendance agreed that it was time to refocus the PACURC’s efforts to include entities outside of the college and university community. The group also agreed that it might be the time to partner with other organizations and to enhance the PACURC meeting agenda to include topics that will assist recycling and sustainability coordinators with the day-to-day demands of their jobs especially during these difficult economic times. With your help, input, and continued support, we can make PACURC a stronger and more vibrant organization!
RecycleMania is Alive and Well and it is Time to Register Your School to Participate!!!
RecycleMania will not be cancelled as a result of the recent financial troubles suffered by the National Recycling Coalition. This year, RecycleMania is being made possible through the support of multiple partners and sponsors including the Coca Cola Company. In addition, RecycleMania is a project of both the National and PA Chapter of the College and University Recycling Council (CURC) and is supported by the U.S. EPA's WasteWise Program.
RecycleMania is a friendly benchmarking and competition tool for college and university recycling programs. RecycleMania can be used to promote waste reduction and recycling activities on campuses no matter what their size. Over the 10-week period, from Sunday, January 17, 2010 through Saturday, March 27, 2010, participating schools will be required to report recycling and trash data which will be used to rank them in categories such as who collects the largest amount of recyclables per capita, the largest amount of total recyclables, the least amount of trash per capita, or have the highest overall recycling rate. With each week’s reports and rankings, participating schools can watch how their results fluctuate against other schools and use those statistics to rally their campus communities to reduce and recycle more.
There are no new rules or rule changes for the 2010 competition. Questions regarding the rules and/or registration process may be directed to the Helpline at helpline@recyclemaniacs.org or (843)278-7686.
Pennsylvania has been the number 1 State for three consecutive years and we are looking to make it four!!! During the 2009 competition, PA had 48 schools competing and we are hoping to increase that total by at least 20 percent during the 2010 competition. If you have any questions concerning the competition or what will be required of your school during the competition, please do not hesitate to contact Ric or Donna. Registration for the 2010 competition closes on January 14, 2010.
PACURC's future goals for 2010 include:
3 Roundtables/Tours: March 23 – PACURC is tentatively scheduled to meet and tour Juniata College in Huntingdon July 28 – PACURC will conduct its meeting at the Annual PROP Conference at Penn State; October -- our last Roundtable will be held in eastern Pennsylvania. If your institution wishes to host the October 2010 meeting, please contact Ric, Donna, or Jan as soon as possible.
A landfill tour in the spring with an additional tour of a 16-acre solar panel site.
PACURC webpage updates on the PROP website when partnership or other pertinent information becomes available.
Continue to promote PACURC.
Continue to promote the "Keystone Cup” Challenge as part of RecycleMania.
The Keystone Cup is our own state-wide competition with all of the Pennsylvania schools who are participating in RecycleMania.
The various categories and their descriptions are:
Per Capita Classic: Collections of the largest combined amount of paper, cardboard, bottles, and cans per person.
Waste Minimization: Least amount of municipal solid waste (both recyclables and trash) per person. Rewards the school that emphasizes reuse and source reduction over recycling.
Gorilla Prize: Recognizes the larger schools that recycle the highest gross tonnage of combined paper, cardboard, bottles, and cans regardless of campus population.
Targeted Material - Paper: School that recycles the most paper throughout the competition.
Targeted Material - Corrugated Cardboard: School that recycles the most corrugated cardboard.
Targeted Material - Bottles & Cans: School that recycles the most bottles and cans.
Targeted Material - Food Service Organics: School that collects and recycles the most food service organics during the competition.
