The campus community of Ohio University Southern is doing its part at making the world a little greener.

OUS is participating in Recyclemania, a recycling program for colleges and universities across the nation.The program began Jan. 17 and will run for 10 weeks.

Though the program is a competition, OUS is in the benchmark division, which means that it will not be competing until the program is more established at the campus.

In order to compete, the program has to be in place at all locations of the campus, something the Southern campus has not yet achieved.

Adam Riehl, director of facilities management, is overseeing the program.

He said his goal is to have the whole campus participating eventually.

“That’ll be a real asset to us,” Riehl said.

Last year the campus recycled 34 percent of its solid waste. Riehl hopes to exceed that number this year.

Recyclemania got its start in 2001 when Ohio University and Miami University had a friendly competition to increase recycling in the dining and residence halls.

This is OUS’s second year participating. Last year’s program sparked an interest in students to recycle and even prompted the campus’s first ever Earth Day celebration.

“The response was very positive,” Riehl said.

The campus also now has two recycling bins provided by the Lawrence-Scioto Solid Waste Management District and Rumpke. The bins are open to the public and used frequently, Riehl said.

Besides recycling, the campus is also looking for ways to better manage energy and reduce green house gas emission.

Recycling is important for the campus to support, he said.

“I think to do to our role as a facility of higher education, we need to set an example in the community and be a leader in all areas,” he said.