Utah State University Kicks Off 2014 RecycleMania Recycling Competition

Utah State University has kicked off its participation in the 2014 RecycleMania tournament for the fifth consecutive year. RecycleMania is a national competition where college campuses compete for eight weeks to reduce, reuse and recycle on-campus waste.

In addition to Utah State University, 461 schools with more than 5.3 million students and more than 1.2 million faculty and staff, are participating in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Canada. The competition runs through March 30.

Utah State University will compete in the competition division. Schools compete in 11 categories to see which can recycle the most paper, cardboard, cans and bottles and food waste on a per capita basis; which can produce the least amount of waste; and which recycles the largest percentage of its overall waste stream. Additional categories recognize successful recycling at home basketball games and call attention to the recyclability of film plastic and scrap electronics.

USU began the 2014 competition Feb. 4 with an event on the TSC patio featuring a flatbed truck of USU’s recyclables and free hot chocolate. Students had the opportunity to win reusable mugs for correctly sorting waste into trash and recycle bins. Students can continue to participate in the festivities by entering photos of Aggies recycling on Instagram with the hashtag “USUdontbetrashy.”

According to competition reports, in 2013, 91 million pounds of recyclables and organic materials were recovered during the competition, preventing the release of greenhouse gases comparable to the carbon sequestered by 99,535 acres of U.S. forests in one year.

The competition is made possible with the continued sponsorship support of the Alcoa Foundation, the American Forest and Paper Association, The Coca-Cola Company and SCA Tissue.

About RecycleMania
RecycleMania was launched in 2001 as a friendly challenge between Ohio University and Miami University to increase recycling on their campuses. Today, RecycleMania is an independent program of RecycleMania, Inc. The program is made possible with sponsorship support from the Alcoa Foundation, American Forest & Paper Association, The Coca-Cola Company and SCA. Program management is provided by Keep America Beautiful with additional program support from the U.S. EPA’s WasteWise program and the College and University Recycling Coalition (CURC). RecycleMania is proud to partner with UNCF Special Programs, the Campus Conservation Nationals, National Wildlife Federation’s Campus Ecology and the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). More about RecycleMania can be found at its website.

About USU Recycling
The USU Recycling Center began in 1990. Since then, the program has grown to recycle approximately 25 percent of USU’s solid waste stream. USU Recycling is committed to reducing the university’s environmental impact. USU recycles paper, cardboard, glass bottles, aluminum cans, steel (tin) cans, plastic containers, wood pallets, batteries, scrap metal and rigid Styrofoam.

Related link:

USU Sustainability

Contact: Jacob Hill, USU student and RecycleMania organizer, (801) 528-8178, jacob.hill@aggiemail.usu.edu

Contact: Alexi Lamm, USU sustainability coordinator, (435) 797-9299, alexi.lamm@usu.edu