In honor of Earth Day, several St. Thomas organizations are taking steps toward making the campus green and sustainable.

In the weeks leading up to Earth Day, St. Thomas participated in the annual Recyclemania challenge. St. Thomas finished second among Minnesota colleges behind Gustavus in the 2011 competition.

St. Thomas took first in the “Waste Minimization” and “Targeted Material-Food Service Organics” categories and won the “Gorilla Prize” for the most total recycling with 119,177 pounds during the 10-week competition period.

Bob Douglas, coordinator of recycling and central receiving and St. Thomas sustainability committee chair, said, “I think we did well. It’s our best finish in Recyclemania.”

Colleges throughout the country participated in Recyclemania by recording their recycling during the 10-week period. The competition ranks participants in several categories. California State University San Marcos was the 2011 Recyclemania grand champion, and St. Thomas placed 111th out of 288 schools for overall recycling percentage.

Douglas helps run Recyclemania at St. Thomas, but students do most of the tasks.

Junior John Twohy said, “We all gather recycling, sort it into glass, plastic, aluminum, paper, electronics, batteries and light bulbs.”

Twohy said there is usually an increase in recycling and a decrease in garbage in February because people become aware of Recyclemania.

Lewis Segl, undergraduate student sustainability committee chair, said he saw improvement in all categories, but said he would like to see more contact with Campus Life and Residence Life in the future.

“We did good taking second as grand champions, and per capita we got third,” Segl said. “We’re the biggest private college in Minnesota, so it was harder to get total campus participation. Gustavus is really good at recycling per person.”

St. Thomas was leading at the start of the competition, but Douglas said in the last week Gustavus “posted some incredible numbers” to secure first place.

“I don’t think St. Thomas as a community is as into [recycling] as other schools are,” Douglas said. “For some students who don’t understand the environmental level, it helps to bring the competition into it.”

Segl said he hopes for increased awareness of recycling on campus and participation from more student groups.

St. Thomas was recently listed as a “Green College” in a 2011 list put out by “The Princeton Review.” Of the 703 schools that were ranked for how environmentally sustainable their campuses were, 311 schools, including St. Thomas, scored high enough to be considered a green college.

Earth Day activities

Although Recyclemania is over and Earth Day fell on April 22 this year, St. Thomas’ Earth Day festivities will take place throughout the week of April 26-30.

Segl said there will be many events for students.

“First off we have recycling sculptures on campus,” Segl said. “This is to promote sustainability, show what recycling can do and how much it adds up.”

The events are meant to spread awareness not just on campus, but locally as well, Segl said.

“We’re trying to get people involved with these green activities to show that in the future and now we need to change our lifestyle,” he said.

These sculptures will be displayed on the Lower Quad the whole week.

Academic Affairs will also hold a clothing drive in all residence halls.

During convocation hour Tuesday, April 26, several Earth Day activities will happen on campus. Bike Enthusiasts at St. Thomas will have free bike tune-ups. An event called “Piece of St. Thomas” will give away small blocks of St. Thomas’ signature Mankato stone, and the university’s first solar compact will be on display.

There will be a video presentation of “Tapped” Wednesday in Scooter’s with silent bingo and prizes from 8-10 p.m. “Tapped” is a documentary that examines the role of the bottled water industry and its effects on health, climate change, pollution and reliance on oil.

During convocation hour Thursday, April 28, the Green Team will give out free reusable water bottles to students who take a pledge to reduce their use of one-time-use water bottles on campus.

Gayle Lamb, Dining Services cash operations manager, will have a table set up where she will talk about sustainability in food services and the new returnable “food-to-go” boxes.

“If you buy into the program and use the reusable to-go container, we’ll build a salad in it for you,” Lamb said.

Lamb said awareness can start with lifestyle changes.

“The first phase of recycle is reduce, and so we’re trying to get people to reduce their garbage before we even get to the point of recycling,” she said.

During Thursday’s convo hour, Christopher Bineham, program manager of the HOURCAR, will hold an event with an actual car to teach students more about the program. B.E.A.S.T will also have a scavenger bike ride with prizes for the participants.

KUST will end the week with a Cloud Cult concert Saturday, April 30, in McCarthy Gym.

Tarkor Zehn, Kelsey Broadwell and Ashley Stewart contributed to this story.