Recycling Efforts Increase

By Broadside Staff Reporter Josh St. Louis.

The eighth annual RecycleMania competition has begun and has attracted over 400 colleges and universities from 46 different states. RecyleMania, which was started by University of Ohio’s Ed Newman and Miami University’s Stacy Edmonds, claims that their goal is to “get more recycling [done] on campus.”

Students compete to see which school can collect the largest amount of recyclables, or see who has the highest recycling rate.

Students report weekly measurements over a 10-week period, lasting from January to April.

The idea started when Ed Newman wished to create a friendly competition in Cincinnati between the University of Ohio and Miami University.

The competition was started in 2001, in an effort to increase recycling efforts on campus. Since then, 41.3 million pounds of trash has been recycled.

Miami University won the first competition. Last year, California State University San Marcos was declared the grand champion.

RecyleMania has received full support from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the National Recycling Coalition, the College and University Recycling Council and the Coca-Cola Company.

In a press release, Newman said, "I figured we were already rivals, so why not do something positive while having a fun and friendly competition?”

Recycled items can include bottles and cans, corrugated cardboard and paper. Another category includes food service management, which breaks down paper napkins and food into organic compost.

“Understandably, college students tend to pay more attention to their social life and academics than their personal solid waste management,” Newman said.

The event continued until Saturday, Feb. 2, which allowed universities to count their total amounts and report them by Wednesday, Feb. 6.

Results will be announced on RecycleMania’s web site on Friday, Feb. 8.

Newman said, “RecycleMania is an attempt to blend these together and move recycling higher up on the importance hierarchy."

Newman also said he started RecycleMania because he “wanted to be proactive about waste. My school does a decent job, but we are big consumers.”

George Mason University is not part of RecyleMania, but some local rivals, such as VCU, UVA and Virginia Tech, are part of the competition.

Although Mason is not participating in the event this year, the university hopes to participate in future events.
When asked where most of the trash comes from, he said, “60-70 percent of school’s waste comes from dining services. I wanted to do something about that. [I was] committed to results.”

A full results page of past RecycleMania competitions can be found on their web site.

For more information, visit their website at recycleManiacs.org, or their Facebook page.