Dive Brief:
- RecycleMania announced colleges and universities participating in its 2015 recycling competition composted or recycled 80.1 million pounds of waste.
- 4.5 million students enrolled in 394 institutions across 49 states competed in the program.
- Antioch University in Seattle, WA was named the winner of the recycling challenge; this marks the second year in a row Antioch won the event. The school managed to divert 96% of waste generated on campus, leaving just 4% of materials discarded in the trash.
Dive Insight:
RecycleMania is managed by Keep America Beautiful. The competitive event measures the volume of waste the schools collect and recycle during a two month timeframe, then ranks the institutions accordingly.
The organization reports that the total amount of waste recycle this year fell compared to 2014. Last year, the competition produced 89.1 million pounds of recyclables and organics; 5.3 million students from 461 schools participated in the contest in 2014.
A new feature was introduced in this year’s competition: the 3R Actions Challenge, which promotes the use of technology alongside recycling efforts. Participants were encouraged to share their experiences using mobile apps, text and Twitter.
