February 6 marked the start of Recyclemania — an eight-week competition among more than 600 colleges and universities to promote waste reduction. Each week through April 2, volunteers will be weighing the amount of garbage the Mary Baldwin campus generates as well as amount of waste that will be recycled, including aluminum cans, plastic containers (No. 1–7), corrugated cardboard, mixed and white paper, and compostable food waste.
The annual effort is headed up by the Mary Baldwin Green Team with help from the Spencer Center for Civic and Global Engagement and the Office of Facilities Management.
The goal this year is to recycle 20 percent of waste on campus. 
According to Steve Grande, director of civic engagement, Mary Baldwin recycled 16.7 percent of waste in 2010. In an eye- (and nose-) catching feat, the Green Team last spring sorted garbage from four residence halls in front of Grafton Library to show students, faculty, and staff the amount of recycled material that gets tossed in trash bins every day.
The 2011 effort is already off to a good start with the launch of Mary Baldwin Green, a new page on the Mary Baldwin website that details on-campus recyclables and recycling locations. The site also lists items previously thought to be unrecyclable — such as Scotch tape dispensers — but through the college’s partnership with TerraCycle , can be repurposed.
TerraCycle bins can be found on the bottom floor of Pearce Science Center, in the Hunt Dining Hall foyer, on the first floor of the Physical Activities Center, and inside Tullidge and King residence halls.
Questions about the program can be sent to Grande or Marty Weeks, director of building services.