University of Texas at Dallas Gears Up For Recyclemania

The University of Texas at Dallas is aiming to improve on last year’s third-place finish in Recyclemania, an annual college recycling contest.

For the next ten weeks, through April 8, UT Dallas will try to collect more bottles, cans, cardboard and paper than any other competing university to win the Earth-friendly contest, the press release says. Students, faculty and staff are encouraged to drop off the used materials in recycling bins located throughout campus.

“Each recycling bin can take aluminum cans and plastic bottles. We go through all recyclables and sort them for reclamation,” says Bron Clayton, building services supervisor at UT Dallas.

Recycling bins are in nearly every building on campus, often on more than one floor.

Recyclemania was developed in 2001 to increase student and staff participation in recycling, heighten awareness of schools’ waste management and recycling programs and cut waste generated on campus, the press release says.

This is the third year that UT Dallas has competed. In 2008, UT Dallas finished third in the state of Texas in the “Per Capita Classic” division with more than 97,116 pounds of recycling.

UT Dallas categories this year include paper, corrugated cardboard, plastic bottle and aluminum cans.

Schools will report their numbers to Recyclemania weekly using an online reporting form. Weight data are due noon the Wednesday after a full collection week (Sunday-Saturday). 

Recyclemania publishes results at www.recyclemania.org/ on Friday afternoon of the same week (Week one results will be posted by Friday, Jan. 30).