The RecycleMaina Tournament has given colleges and universities across the United States and Canada a chance to compete against each other – not in sports – but in recycling. Starting on February 6 and ending April 2, 630 colleges and universities participated in the 2011 RecycleMania Tournament. This represented 6 million students and 1.5 million staff and faculty (including me!).
Here’s how the competition works: Colleges and universities send in their recycling results each week to RecycleMania, and the recycling statistics are posted in different categories. The schools can compete in different categories, such as Gorilla Prize, which measures the total tonnage of recyclables collected. Last year, the 607 schools that participated collected a total of 84.5 million pounds of recyclables and compostable organics.
The original RecycleMania competition started in 2001 with Miami University of Ohio up against Ohio University. Ohio is no longer the leader in schools recycling. Pennsylvania had the most with 48 schools, followed by Texas, Massachusetts, New York and California.
Are you wondering how your college faired in the recycling competition? Check out the final results of 2011 at RecycleMania Results. My university, the University of Kansas, ranked 95th out of 363 other schools in the Gorilla Prize category.
Let me know how your university did in the comments below!
Photo by Fotolia/Ariwasabi
