For over a decade the University has participated in the nation-wide competition known as RecycleMania. So what is all the “mania” about and how did we do? Starting at the beginning, RecycleMania is a nationwide competition in which colleges and universities track their recycling and waste data for an 8-week period to see who can divert the most material from the landfill.
What started off as a friendly competition between between Ohio University and Miami University in 2001, has grown tremendously. The competition has evolved overtime, but now there are three main competition categories, five “bragging rights” categories and three optional one-time reporting “special” categories. The 2018 tournament featured
300 schools participating from 46 states in the United States, the District of Columbia and Canada, with an enrollment of 3.6 million students.
Between the Feb. 4 kickoff and the final recycling weigh-in on March 31, participating schools recycled or composted 68.6 million pounds of waste, preventing the release of 94,152 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCO2E) into the atmosphere, which is equivalent to preventing the annual emissions from 20,160 cars!
Congratulations to the winners:
8-Week Categories
- Diversion Championship: College of Staten Island
- Per Capita Classic: Rhode Island School of Design
- Food Organics: Knox College
Special Categories
- Race to Zero Waste: SUNY School of Environmental Science & Forestry
- GameDay Basketball Diversion: Ohio University
- GameDay Basketball Per Capita: Loyola Marymount University
So how did UR do? Here’s a summary of our results:
- Diversion Category – Ranked 120 out of 170 (11th in New York!), with a Waste Diversion Rate of 24.504%
- Per Capita Classic – Ranked 69 out of 228 (8th in New York!), collecting 14.47 pounds per person
- Total Recycling – Ranked 43 our of 229 (4th in New York!), collecting 399,957 pounds altogether
- Cardboard – Ranked 9 out of 78, collecting 8.16 pounds per person
- Organics – Ranked 135 out of 168, collecting 15 pounds per person
Perhaps as important (if not more) than the actual competition results, is the platform RecycleMania offers for participants to promote their waste reduction and sustainability initiatives. Each year Facilities Team Green calls on other student groups and organizations to join events and promotional activities for the competition. This year a featured kick-off event sponsored by Grassroots in which students received free reusable (and decorate-able) coffee mugs and a symposium for the EcoReps to present their eco-friendly projects and initiatives. Team Green also led an I Love the Earth photo campaign on Valentine’s Day and a Caught Green Handed campaign featured on our social media pages.
No matter the score, UR optimizes RecycleMania to promote more of what we do every day. Go Green!