RecycleMania 2010: Entire campus to participate

RecycleMania, the national collegiate recycling competition that began 10 years ago as a friendly challenge between students at Miami and Ohio Universities, kicked off the 2010 event Jan. 17 with 585 colleges and universities participating. 

At Miami, a residence hall recycling competition will run concurrently with the 10-week 2010 RecycleMania competition, which ends March 27. 

Miami will compete in the Stephen K. Gaski Per Capita Classic, the original competition to see which school can collect the most combined recyclables (bottles, cans, paper and corrugated cardboard) per person, based on total campus population: on- and off-campus students, faculty and staff. 

Last year, RecycleMania 2009 resulted in more than 69.4 million pounds of waste recycled or composted overall, according to the U.S. EPA’s WasteWise program, which administers the contest. 
Miami placed 36th of 510 schools in RecycleMania 2009 in the Per Capita Classic competition, with 23.5 cumulative pounds recycled per person. Last year was the first that the competition included cumulative pounds recycled per total campus population. Previous competitions included on-campus students only. 

Miami placed in the top four of each RecycleMania competition from 2002 to 2008. 

“Everyone on campus is encouraged to participate in RecycleMania,” said Megan Ansley, Miami’s environmental education coordinator, who notes that with the new reporting rules (effective last year) including the entire campus population, “the continued success of Miami in the competition depends on a commitment from everyone.” 

The RecycleMania competition is a trademarked program of the RecycleMania Steering Committee in coordination with the College and University Recycling Council (CURC). Program management is provided by Keep America Beautiful in coordination with the U.S. EPA’s WasteWise program. RecycleMania is made possible through the sponsorship support of The Coca Cola Company, American Forest & Paper Association and Keep America Beautiful. 

For more information about RecycleMania, including weekly rankings and past winners, go to www.recyclemania.org. 

For more information about Miami's involvement, contact Ansley, at ansleymh@muohio.edu.