RecycleMania Announces Final Results

A campaign to heighten recycling awareness of recycling on college campuses, called RecycleMania, came to a conclusion late last month. RecycleMania, which ran from Jan. 17 to March 27, challenges students, faculty and staff to increase on-campus recycling rates. Through the program, in its 10th year, more than 84.5 million pounds of recyclables and organics were recovered from 607 colleges and universities across the country.

Colleges and universities chose to participate in one of two divisions, Competition or Benchmark.

The Competition Division houses the traditional competitive rankings based on standard tracking and reporting criteria. The Benchmark Division allows schools to unofficially compare themselves with other schools and promote RecycleMania on campus without the formal reporting requirements of the competitive ranking.

Within each division, schools participate in any of eight categories. In addition to these main categories, schools also compete in targeted material categories to see who can recycle the most paper, cardboard, cans and bottles, and food waste on a per capita basis.

The “Grand Champion” top three finalists, determined by the percentage of overall waste that is recycled over 10 weeks, were:

• California State University-San Marcos (71.82 percent) – San Marcos, Calif.

• New Mexico State University (69.05 percent) – Las Cruces, N.M.

• American University (64.90 percent) – Washington D.C.

The “Per Capita Classic” top three finalists, determined by total pounds of recyclables collected per person over 10 weeks, were:

• United States Coast Guard Academy (81.75 pounds) – New London, Ct.

• Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering (63.14 pounds) – Needham, Mass.

• Colorado College (60.8 pounds) – Colorado Springs, Co.

The “Waste Minimization” top three finalists, determined by the lowest overall amount of waste (recyclables and trash) per person over 10 weeks, were:

• North Lake College (6.17 pounds) – Irving, Tex.

• Harford Community College (7.87 pounds) – Bel Air, Md.

• Santa Monica College (8.13 pounds) – Santa Monica, Calif.

The “Gorilla Prize” top three finalists, determined by the highest cumulative weight of recyclables over 10 weeks, were:

• Rutgers University (2,541,093 pounds) – Piscataway, N.J.

• Harvard University (996,760 pounds) – Cambridge, Mass.

• Stanford University (888,884 pounds) – Stanford, Calif.

Targeted Material (pounds per person over 10 weeks)

Paper:

• Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering (30.71 pounds) – Needham, Mass.

• Westfield State College (23.89 pounds) – Westfield, Mass.

• Medical University of South Carolina (21.64 pounds) – Charleston, S.C.

Corrugated Cardboard:

• Kalamazoo College (25.23 pounds) – Kalamazoo, Mich.

• Union College (23.14 pounds) – Schenectady, N.Y.

• Rutgers University (20.41 pounds) – Piscataway, N.J.

Bottles and Cans:

• Ursinus College (19.44 pounds) – Collegeville, Pa.

• Kalamazoo College (16.29 pounds) – Kalamazoo, Mich.

• Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering (15.45 pounds) – Needham, Mass.

Food Service Organics:

• Johnson & Wales University-Denver (41.79 pounds) – Denver, Co.

• United States Coast Guard Academy (37.49 pounds) – New London, Ct.

• Middlebury College (29.31 pounds) – Middlebury, Vt.

The RecycleMania competition is a program of the RecycleMania Steering Committee, in coordination with the College and University Recycling Coalition. Program management for RecycleMania 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.