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Collegiate RecycleMania Competition Begins with
Record Number of Participating Schools
Note: An ealier version of this release without the full list of schools at the bottom was distributed on January 29, 2007.
February 2, 2007 (Washington, DC) – Forget NCAA basketball. The real competition on America's college campuses this spring is RecycleMania, which pits colleges and universities in a nationwide contest to see who can reduce, reuse, and recycle the most campus waste.
Over a 10-week period from January 28 to April 7, 2007, participating schools will compete in various categories measuring the success of their recycling and waste prevention efforts. This year's 201 competing schools, the most in the competition's history, represent 42 states and the District of Columbia and include institutions ranging from small two-year community colleges to Ivy League universities.
RecycleMania helps campus recycling coordinators rally student, faculty, and staff participation in recycling and waste prevention programs, while offering bragging rights and special awards made out of recycled materials to the winning schools. Though many schools have had recycling and waste prevention programs for years, studies have found that large volumes of recyclables still end up in the trash. RecycleMania motivates campus communities to recycle more often. By framing recycling in competitive terms, RecycleMania taps the same intercollegiate spirit that drives sports rivalries.
"When RecycleMania season is upon us, the entire university community gets pumped up for recycling. It helps connect the simple act of putting a can in a bin with a sense of collegiate pride. Once that connection is made, the challenge of tying environmental awareness to community pride becomes easier," says Marcy Bauer, former Environmental Education Coordinator for Miami University.
The competition is divided into several categories. The two main categories are the Per Capita Classic, which measures the total amount of recyclables collected per person, and Waste Minimization, in which schools compete to see who can generate the least amount of overall solid waste per capita. From these two categories, RecycleMania awards its Grand Champion based upon who recycles the greatest overall percentage of their solid waste stream. Additional recognition is given to schools that collect the most paper, beverage containers, cardboard, and food waste for recycling, as well as the school that collects the greatest overall amount of recyclables.
Each week, the standings are posted online for all participants to see, motivating campuses to work harder as they aim not only for the top prizes, but also to beat out their own rival schools. "From its roots as a local rivalry between schools, RecycleMania has demonstrated the power of creative ideas to address resource conservation issues. The fact that it continues to double in size every year is testimony to its effectiveness in helping colleges and universities increase recycling rates," says Kate Krebs, executive director of the National Recycling Coalition (NRC). Matt Hale, EPA’s director for the Office of Solid Waste, agrees. "Not only does RecycleMania save energy, it benefits schools economically -- schools can reduce their disposal costs and even generate revenues from the recovered materials," says Hale.
To help schools promote the competition on campus, RecycleMania provides professionally developed promotional materials and web and email forums for recycling coordinators to share tips and best practices. The RecycleMania competition is organized by collegiate recycling coordinators from various universities, and is jointly administered by EPA's WasteWise program and the NRC. The competition is endorsed by NRC's College and University Recycling Council and the National Wildlife Federation's Campus Ecology program. Generous financial and promotional support is provided by The Coca-Cola Company.
Who’s Participating This Year
RecycleMania has grown to 201 colleges and universities this year, more than doubling the 93 schools participating in 2006. The states with the most participants include Pennsylvania (20), California (13), Massachusetts (12) and New York (12). Although the northeast has traditionally been the best represented region, the competition has grown in popularity in other parts of the country including Virginia, Texas and Illinois (8 each), South Carolina (7) and Oregon (6). In addition to the District of Columbia, eight states are represented for the first time in 2007: Nevada, Louisiana, Florida, Alaska, Hawaii, Arkansas, Delaware and West Virginia. The list of institutions taking part is diverse, ranging from Princeton University to Ohio State University, Virginia Military Institute to Prince William Sound Community College in southeastern Alaska. For a full list of participating schools by state, see list below. Contact information for specific campuses is available by calling (843) 278-7686 or emailing ww@erg.com.
History of the RecycleMania Competition
The RecycleMania competition began in the spring of 2001 as a friendly challenge between recycling coordinators at two schools in Ohio, Miami University and Ohio University. >From the outset, the competition was meant as a way to get students and staff more excited about participating in recycling efforts. That first year, Miami University won, collecting 41.2 lbs. of recyclables for each person on campus. The following year Miami Ohio were joined by two more schools, Bowling Green State University and Harvard University, with Bowling Green winning the title with 48 lbs. per capita. Since then the competition has continued to grow in popularity, doubling the number of schools involved each year.
To learn more about RecycleMania, go to www.recyclemaniacs.org.
Schools Participating in the 2007 RecycleMania Competition
Alabama
Auburn University
Alaska
Prince William Sound Community College
Sheldon Jackson College
Arizona
Arizona State University
Pima County Community College District
University of Arizona
Arkansas
Harding University
California
Cal State San Marcos
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
California State University, Chico
City College San Francisco
Feather River Community College
Point Loma Nazarene University
San Diego State University
Santa Clara University
Stanford University
University of California Davis
University of California, San Diego
University of San Francisco
West Los Angeles Community College
Colorado
Colorado State University
University of Colorado at Boulder
Connecticut
Connecticut College
Wesleyan University
Yale University
Delaware
University of Delaware
District of Columbia
Georgetown University
George Washington University
Florida
Nova Southeastern University
University of Central Florida
University of Florida
University of Miami
Georgia
Berry College
Emory University
Georgia State University
Hawaii
Hawai'i Pacific University
University of Hawaii
Illinois
Augustana College
City Colleges of Chicago
Eastern Illinois University
Illinois State University
Moody Bible Institute
Saint Xavier University
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Western Illinois University
Indiana
Ball State University
Iowa
Grinnell College
Kentucky
Berea College
Eastern Kentucky University
University of Kentucky
Louisiana
Tulane University
Maine
Bates College
Bowdoin College
Colby College
University of Southern Maine
University of Maine
University of Maine at Farmington
Maryland
Goucher College
Harford Community College
Loyola College in Maryland
Johns Hopkins University
Towson University
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
University of Maryland, College Park
Washington College
Massachusetts
Amherst College
Anna Maria College
Boston College
Clark University
Harvard University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Mount Holyoke College
Suffolk University
Tufts University
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Wellesley College
Williams College
Michigan
Grand Valley State University
Kalamazoo College
University of Michigan
Washtenaw Community College
Western Michigan University
Minnesota
Minnesota State University at Moorhead
University of Minnesota
Missouri
Missouri State University
Northwest Missouri State University
Truman State University
University of Missouri-Columbia
Washington University in St. Louis
Nevada
University of Nevada Las Vegas
New Hampshire
Dartmouth college
Keene State College
University of New Hampshire
New Jersey
Drew University
Fairleigh Dickinson University
Georgian Court University
Monmouth University
Montclair State University
Princeton University
Rowan University
Rutgers University
New York
Bard College
Binghamton University
Buffalo State College
Daemen College
Hamilton College
Ithaca College
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University
Roberts Wesleyan College
Stony Brook University
SUNY New Paltz
University at Albany
University of Rochester
North Carolina
Brevard College
Duke University
Elon University
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Ohio
Bowling Green State University
Miami University
Northwest State Community College
Ohio University
Ohio Wesleyan University
The Ohio State University
University of Cincinnati
Wilmington College
Wright State University
Youngstown State University
Oklahoma
Oklahoma Baptist University
The University of Tulsa
Oregon
Eastern Oregon University
Oregon Institute of Technology
Oregon State University
Portland Community College - Rock Creek Campus
Portland State University
University of Oregon
Pennsylvania
Bloomsburg University
Bucknell University
Carnegie Mellon
Chestnut Hill College
Dickinson College
Drexel University
Gettysburg College
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Juniata College
Lycoming College
Millersville University
Shippensburg University
Slippery Rock University
Temple University
Pennsylvania State University
University of Pennsylvania
University Of Sciences
Villanova University
Wilkes University
Wilson College
Rhode Island
Brown University
Rhode Island School of Design
University of Rhode Island
South Carolina
Bob Jones University
Clemson University
Coker College
College of Charleston
Medical University of South Carolina
The Citadel
Winthrop University
South Dakota
University of South Dakota
Tennessee
Rhodes College
University of Tennessee
Texas
Baylor University
Rice University
Southern Methodist University
Texas Christian University
University of Texas at Dallas
University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at San Antonio
University of Texas Medical Branch Galveston
Utah
Brigham Young University
Utah State University
Vermont
Green Mountain College
Middlebury College
University of Vermont
Virginia
Bridgewater College
James Madison University
Northern Virginia Community College - Alexandria Campus
Old Dominion University
University of Virginia
Virginia Military Institute
Virginia Tech
Washington and Lee University
Washington
University of Washington
Washington State University
Western Washington University
West Virginia
Fairmont State University
Shepherd University
West Virginia Wesleyan College
Wisconsin
College of Menominee Nation
University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire
University of Wisconsin - Marinette
University of Wisconsin - Stout
University of Wisconsin River Falls
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