Recycle Mania kicked off Jan. 17 for its 10th annual competition between colleges and university recycling programs.
This friendly battle between any colleges who entered will be going until the March 27 for a total of ten weeks of cleaning up trash.
Goals of the program are to help maintain a healthy and clean environment on campuses for both students and staff. It helps to heighten awareness of the waste problems on campuses and allows for recycling programs to grow so the cleanliness can continue after the competition ends. It's also a great way to bring students and staff together to help with a wonderful cause.
Recycle Mania was started in February of 2001 by Ed Newman (Ohio University) and Stacy Edmonds Wheeler (Miami University). The two came together to find a way to get the waste out of campuses worldwide.
As the ten weeks go by, each college reports how much they have recycled trash, the school with the highest amount of recycling per capita wins the grand prize. Other awards are given for the school with the most amount of recycled material, and the school with the highest recycling rate.
The first year the competition was won by Miami University and in 2009 California State San Marcos took the grand prize for their fifth time.
This year the competition has had record breaking entry numbers and hope to have some of the highest amounts of recycled material yet.
Participating schools in Washington State this year include: Antioch University Seattle, Eastern Washington University, Olympic College, Pacific Lutheran University, Seattle Community College-North Campus, Seattle Pacific University, Skagit Valley College, Tacoma Community College, The Evergreen State College, Washington State University, and Western Washington University.
Although Green River Community College will not be participating in the event, it's an amazing program designed to keep us all aware of the waste problems occurring all around the world. If you happen to see some trash on the ground, please help out our world by placing it in a garbage container.
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