(03/07/13) - Students and Staff at UM-Flint, Mott, Kettering and Baker are talking plenty of trash these days.
"It's definitely March Madness on a smaller, local scale, but it's our March Madness," said Baker College staff member Matt Bohlen.
The fourth annual Flint College Town Recycling Challenge is underway. The school that collects the most pounds of recyclable material by the end of the month wins money to enhance campus life. Giant bins have been placed on all four campuses. Mid-Michigan residents, and businesses are encouraged to drop stuff off at their favorite school.
"Whether it be Mott, Kettering, whether it be at Baker or UM-Flint. Primarily, we want them to bring it to Mott so we win," said Mott Community College staff member Vikrant Ahuja.
Baker took first place last year with more than 10,000 pounds.
"The best part about Baker is we're the easiest to access. The other colleges are more difficult to get to with traffic downtown," Bohlen joked.
Competition aside, organizers believe their efforts have already made a major impact on the environment.
"Last year, all the colleges combined collected around 30,000 pounds of recyclable material, which, if you think about it, would have ended up in a landfill. Over the last three years since we've been doing this program, we've collected almost 100,000 pounds," Ahuja said.
The new recycling champ will be announced at UM-Flint's Earth Day Celebration on April 13.
"We'll have live music there, we'll have a bunch of presentations, and people will be bringing in live animals and other exhibits," said UM-Flint student Suzan Limberg.
Besides helping to clean up the environment, the winning campus also cashes in and just might offer out a nice prize to the community as well.
"Last year, we actually bought dozens of backpacks and stuffed them all. We brought them out to local school and the Salvation Army. No matter who wins, we're going to do good things with the money," Bohlen said.
