RecycleMania: An Inter-Collegiate Recycling Competition

1. RecycleMania: An Inter-Collegiate Recycling Competition Ed Newman, Recycling and Refuse Manager Professional Recyclers of Pennsylvania Conference Pittsburgh, PA July 27, 2006

2. Move Over NCAA: Here Comes RecycleMania

3. What got competition started? • Residence hall trash —70% of campus total • OU/Miami Sports Rivals/Benchmark • Both noted proactive leaders in Ohio So then…who is on top of the heap?

4. 7,500 of 20,000 students live on campus • Each year half are new residents Difficult to get students’ attention • Pre-college • Orientation • Move-In

5. Students’ priorities • School • Social life • BEER! • Somewhere on the horizon… solid waste management habits How to move recycling up the priority scale? How to get it to be second nature?

6. Tried numerous things to bolster recycling • Met with hall council — hit a wall • Contacted Stacey Edmonds — Miami University • We met — developed RecycleMania

7. Goals • Fair and friendly competition • Increase recycling • Have a successful competition • Results • Interest soared at both schools • Ohio — Administration all over it • Miami — Had more support from students • Baseline data for auxiliary parts of campus

8. Our goals were met RecycleMania grows each year!

9. Total weight in 10 weeks 2001 534,710 lbs 268 tons Total wt. in 10 weeks 2006 18,675,897 lbs 9,330 tons Students involved 2001 14,550 Students involved 2006 880,000 Total campus population 2006 1,155,000

10. 2006 Number of Schools by State

11. Sports Conferences with the Most Schools Represented

12. Ohio U. and Winner

13. Two Main Competitions Per Capita Classic Weight of Recyclables Population 2006 introduced the Waste Minimization Rate Weight of Recyclables + Trash Weight Population = Overall Waste Generation

14. Grand Champion Weight of Recyclables X 100 = Top Waste Reducer Weight of Recyclables + Weight of Trash & Top Recycler

15. Other Sub-Competitions Targeted Materials = Per Capita Weight Population • Targeted Materials included: • Food Service Organic Waste • Bottles and Cans • Cardboard • Paper including News, Glossy, Mixed, Books

16. Some Strategies for Competing

17. Strategies Galore

18. The main thing is…. • Level of effort you put in is up to you • Make it work for you • Have fun • Compete with who you want to compete with • Focus on PA Schools, Conference, Rival, Peer School • Establish simple goals

19. RecycleMania Checklist • Determine population on campus to compete • Residence and Dining Halls only? • Campus Wide? • Use same population for all competitions • Weight or Volume Based Measurement • Registration • Publicizing winning school at the end

20. Trophies for 1st two competitions • Ad in student newspaper congratulating winner • Bragging rights

21. Great tool for: • Learning to do our job better • Communicating better • Generating excitement • Developing new ways to reach people

22. Other Benefits • Baseline data • Increase visibility/awareness • Locally and beyond • Builds bridges with others — networking • On campus • Off campus • Increase recycling — main goal • Learning about campus

23. Tips for competing • Bring in your rival to focus on as the one to beat • Start preparing early • Register your school • Use RecycleMania and WasteWise resources • Recyclemaniacs.org • See what other schools are doing — don’t be bashful • Identify who on your campus can help

24. Competition applicable to: • Offices in a building • Intra-school, home rooms • Inter-Schools • Cities and towns

25. Can you compete?