RecycleMania added another level of “madness” to March this year, as MSU participated with hundreds of other schools across North America in the friendly recycling and waste reduction tournament. From Feb. 2 to March 29, schools competed to collect the most recycling and reduce the amount of trash they generated.
In the eight weeks of competition, MSU recycled more than 836,000 pounds of paper, boxboard, cardboard, metal and glass. The strong showing was enough for MSU to finish seventh overall and second in the Big Ten Conference for the Gorilla Prize category, which ranks schools by the total amount that they recycle.
All of the participating current and incoming Big Ten schools finished in the top 100 in Gorilla Prize standings. Rutgers University finished first overall with more than 1.3 million pounds recycled and Ohio State University finished 100th overall with more than 190,000 pounds recycled.
In the Grand Champion category, which ranks schools by the percentage of their waste that gets recycled, MSU finished third in the Big Ten.
This year, participating schools collectively recovered 89.1 million pounds of recyclable and organic materials. Along with the material included for the Gorilla Prize, MSU collected more than 33,000 pounds of electronics and almost 200,000 pounds of food waste – a total of more than one million pounds reused or recycled.
“With the help of millions of students, RecycleMania competitors have recycled and composted over 277,800 tons of material since the competition first started in 2001,”president of RecycleMania, Inc. Stacy Wheeler said. “RecycleMania is a powerful tool for colleges and universities to engage students to improve their community environments and the economy through recycling.”
The RecycleMania Tournament is an independent program of RecycleMania, Inc., a nonprofit organization led by recycling managers from participating schools. Program management is provided by Keep America Beautiful with additional program support from the United States EPA’s WasteWise program and the College and University Recycling Coalition.
Visit recycle.msu.edu for more information on MSU’s involvement and recycling on campus, or visit recyclemania.org for complete 2014 results.