Conn college goes green

New London (WTNH) - It's all about going green for students at Connecticut College. People are taking notice about the school's efforts to conserve energy and recycle.

It's one of 500 colleges competing in Recycle Mania; a national competition to reduce the amount of waste and increase the amount of recyclables.

"We try to keep it consolidated," Senior Tyler Dunham said. "[It's] as easy to recycle as it is to throw it away."

Bottles, cans and cardboard are all weighed. The goal is to have the most recyclables per person on the New London campus.

"We did last year collect an average [of] four pounds per person per day," Senior Tyler Dunham said.

The heavier, the better.

"We always do have pretty good recycling rates throughout the year," Dunham said. "But I think they do increase when people know about and are just reminded of it."

It's a campus continually looking at ways to go green; solar panels which help power Park Residence hall.

At one point the college looked at putting a wind turbine on campus. This is a pretty windy campus but that wind wasn't steady enough to make it feasible.

So Conn College found another way to harness that energy.

"We purchase 100 percent wind-certified renewable energy certificates and those go into the national grid. So, it's a way of offsetting our electricity use," Amy Cabaniss, of Campus Environmental Coord., said.

In other words the same amount of electricity used here is produced by wind turbines elsewhere. It costs a little more.

"It's definitely worth it. We think because it helps to support wind energy," Cabaniss said.

And, it's a greener way of life on the college campus.

Students pay an extra $25 which goes into a renewable energy fund. It allows the school to pay the extra fee for wind power.