During February and March over 500 colleges and universities across the country will compete against each other with their waste management skills. Who can collect the largest amount of recyclables, dispose the least amount of trash or have the highest recycling rate?
The competition will run eight weeks from Sunday, February 5th to Saturday, March 31st. Everyone on campus can have an impact on our ranking in the competition as we are measuring the trash and recycling across campus. The less you throw away and the more you recycle the better we will do. Being our first year participating we feel really confident will rank high.
Residential Competition:
Which residence hall has the best recycling rate? Why not have a little competition to find out? For three week, from February 5th to 25th, we will measure the recycling and trash rate for each residence hall. The winning residence hall will be rewarded with an outdoor excursion with Crawdaddy Outdoors to be held in late March. This is a great time to clean out your room and recycle all you can.
Fine print: The winning hall will be announced by after winter break and residents interested in participating must pre-register.
How we are competing:
As a campus we will be measuring our trash and recyclables weekly and reporting them. We will get weekly updates on ranking and report those back to you as soon as possible. The final results for the overall winner will be released April 13. There are three major competition areas in which we are participating:
Waste minimization: Schools compete to see which produces the least amount of municipal solid waste (both recyclables and trash) per person. This competition is intended to reward those schools that generate the least amount of combined waste and recyclables, emphasizing reuse and source reduction over recycling.
Per Capita Classic: Schools compete to see which can collect the largest combined amount of paper, cardboard and bottles and cans per person. The Per Capita Classic is the original RecycleMania competition.
Targeted Materials: In addition to the primary competitions, schools may compete in targeted material categories. Wartburg has chosen to participate in Paper, Corrugated Cardboard, and Bottles and Cans.
Other Iowa colleges participating include Loras College, Mount Mercy University and Grinnell College. Iowa, Iowa State, Simpson, and Upper Iowa are also participating but not in the competition division.
If you have any questions or want to volunteer please contact the Sustainability office at sustainability@wartburg.edu.
What to recycle:
Paper:
- White paper
- Magazines and Catalogs
- Newspaper
- Office Paper (all colors)
- Junk mail (goes in mixed paper or white)
- Phone books
- Hard and softbound books
Bottles and cans:
- #1 through #7 Plastic (e.g., soda, water, juice, beer, laundry detergent bottles)
- Aluminum cans
- Glass bottles and jars (lids must be removed)
- Steel cans
Cardboard:
- Baled and unbaled cardboard boxes
- Boxboard / chipboard
TerraCycle
- Chip Bags (Any Brand)
- Candy Wrappers
- Cheese Bags (Shredded, Sliced, String, Block)
- Drink Pouches
- Plastic Wrap, Napkins, Paper Towels, Toilet Paper, Kleenex)
- Soft Shell Taco Bags
- Cookie Packages
- Malt-O-Meal cereal bags & box liners
(Please make sure the items are dry & any extra food is shaken out)
History
Recyclemania started in 2001 and has expanded rapidly in 10 years. 630 colleges and universities competed in 2011 spanning 49 states, the District of Columbia, Canada and the U.K. (Press Release). Last year alone, 91 million pounds of recyclables and organic materials were recovered. This is equal to preventing the release of nearly 127,553 metric tons of carbon dioxide, which is equivalent to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from more than 25,000 passenger cars, electricity use of more than 15,500 homes, or burning nearly 695 railcars’ worth of coal!! Press Release.
