North Halls triumphed for the third consecutive semester in last week's university-wide Great Recycling Challenge, maintaining its hold on the Golden Recycling Challenge trophy.
The residence halls won by having the lowest percentage of recyclable material --14.1 percent -- in its trash bins.
The victory came as an upset over West Halls, which had been in the lead for the majority of the week.
Recycling isn't something students can do for a week and forget about, North Halls Coordinator Bryan Koval said.
"We need to keep sustainability at the forefront of their minds," he said.
Each day of the challenge, employees of the Office of Physical Plant (OPP) took samples from each residence hall area's trash bin to calculate how much of it could have been recycled.
At the end of the competition Pollock came in second with 17.8 percent, East came in was third at 18.9 percent, West was fourth with 21.2 percent, South was fifth at 22.1 percent and apartments on campus came in last at 23.1 percent.
"North Halls always has students who are really interested in the environment," Koval said. "It's easy to encourage students to recycle."
Because recycling has both economic and environmental benefits, OPP officials hope the contest will help waste management become a way of life for the university.
When people throw out trash on campus, it's driven 102 miles to be buried and costs Penn State $70 per ton, said Al Matyasovsky, supervisor of central support services for OPP. Materials for recycling are driven seven miles, where they're prepared for market at $5 to $10 per ton, he said.
Elle Maney (senior-theatre and Spanish), environmental student group Eco-Action's Earth Day coordinator, was excited to learn about the challenge.
"To encourage students to put more in recycling bins is a really good idea," she said. "People just assume it's being done. A lot of times, it doesn't end up that way."
She stressed Penn State's efforts to make recycling easy, and encouraged those who don't
recycle to be aware of the consequences of their actions.
John Hurst, assistant director for the Office of Residence Life in East Halls, said he hopes the recycling challenge will encourage students to call into the Office of Residence Life to see how they can increase recycling within their halls.
"The more convenient you can make it for people, the more they're going to do it," Hurst said.
JoLynda Rolli (sophomore-turfgrass science), who lives in North Halls' Earth House, hopes the challenge makes people think about how much they throw away.
"Think about what you're leaving on the Earth," she said. "Is there something better that can be done with what you're about to throw out? Can it be recycled? Otherwise, it will just sit in the landfill."
