During RecycleMania college campuses enter a competition to see which school can reduce, reuse and recycle the most waste. For ten weeks, starting in January, schools take part in the competition geared to increase recycling efforts by students and administrators, and evaluate how waste is disposed and recycled on campus.

Schools who choose to participate submit information about the overall amount collected for cans and bottles, paper and cardboard, food and trash each week, and then compare that rate to the what is accomplished during the ten week competition.

While winning the competition can be fun, the program is designed to be an opportunity for campuses to increase knowledge about waste recycling and environmental conservation. During the 2009 competition, schools collected almost seventy million pounds of recyclable material and compostable food waste. Saving thousands of dollars for each campus in terms of waste disposal fees.

Since the program’s inception in 2001, RecycleMania has increased its participation to over six hundred schools from forty-nine states with a total of more than five million students.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Colleges and Universities generate enormous amounts of waste every year. Get the students involved in competitions like Recycle Mania and make a difference!