Recycling after Rites of Spring has always been a huge project for Students Promoting Environmental Awareness and Recycling, but this year the whole campus has an opportunity to get involved. The prominent Vanderbilt environmental group is asking students to stay late and to help collect recycling after the concerts, starting at 11:30 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday.

Students are encouraged to form recycling teams and hang out on Alumni Lawn towards the end of each night to help speed up the clean-up process. Student teams will compete against each other to collect the largest amount of recyclable trash, like bottles and cans. Prizes, including gift cards to Calypso Caf?© and free SPEAR t-shirts, will be awarded each night to the top two teams.

"Our main goal for the event is to increase awareness about recycling on campus," said junior Rebecca Maddox, vice president of recycling in SPEAR. "Most students don't realize that Rites usually coincides with Earth Day, and we want to remind students of that."

SPEAR will also have a table set up during Rites of Spring where students can learn more about the group's campus initiatives, including the bio-diesel initiative.

There will be free pizza from Obie's and a lot of environmentally friendly giveaways for all who contribute to the recycling effort. Additionally, a $25 gift certificate to Green Wagon, a local eco-friendly store started by a Vanderbilt graduate, will be awarded to the person who can correctly guess how many pounds of plastic and aluminum recycling SPEAR collected after Rites last year.

"We feel that by turning recycling into a fun competition with prizes, students can get involved and feel like they are getting something back out of it," Maddox said.