Game on: RecycleMania hits FIU


The annual collegiate recycling competition RecycleMania is underway. FIU is one of 607 universities and schools from the United States and Canada competing – the most in the competition’s history. FIU may be new to the contest, but a strong showing thus far shows that the university community takes its recycling seriously.

By Karen Cochrane

For the second year in a row, FIU is participating in RecycleMania, a 10-week contest that promotes campus recycling and awareness through friendly competition. With two weeks of results reported thus far, FIU is recording some impressive numbers in its quest to be at the top of the recycling trash heap.

The competition began Jan. 17 and continues through March 28. It consists of different contests to see which institution can collect the largest amount of recyclables per capita, the largest amount of total recyclables, the least amount of trash per capita, and achieve the highest recycling rate. Participating schools select the categories they wish to compete in and turn in weekly results to the RecycleMania Web site, which tracks the results.

FIU is participating in three categories, according to Ali Dutton, sustainability program assistant with FIU’s Sustainability Committee. The Grand Champion category measures both source reduction and recycling. The Per Capita Classic contest measures cumulative recyclables in pounds per person. In the Gorilla Prize contest, schools compete to see which can collect the highest gross tonnage of recyclables, regardless of campus population.

Here’s how FIU’s doing so far:

Gorilla Prize: Second among the 11 Florida universities participating and 28th out of 315 nationally. After two weeks of tallied results, FIU has a cumulative recycling total of 98,480 pounds.

Per Capita Classic: Third among the 11 Florida universities participating and 97th out of 315 nationally. After two weeks of competition, FIU has a cumulative recycling total of 2.98 pounds per person.

Grand Champion: FIU is first among the nine Florida universities competing and 68th out of 230 nationally. FIU has a cumulative recycling rate of 30.78 percent. This number reflects both source reduction and recycling.

RecycleMania is an initiative of the National Recycling Coalition. Last year’s competition resulted in a total collection of 69.4 million pounds of recyclable material among the 500+ schools participating.

Please do your part to help create a healthier planet: Recycle whenever and wherever you can around campus – not just through March but throughout the year.

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