The University of Washington’s Seattle campus won the 2017 PAC-12 Grand Champion award during RecycleMania, a national collegiate waste diversion tournament. The 786 metric tons of CO2 that UW kept out of the landfill is equivalent to the total amount of energy consumption of 68 households, or removing 154 cars off the road.
The student organization EcoReps supported UW Recycling’s efforts in generating event awareness on campus this year.
"RecycleMania was a great success this year thanks to the EcoReps, who were in charge of planning and coordinating outreach events,” said UW Recycling student employee and RecycleMania liaison, Audrey Taber. “Projects were spearheaded by service-learning students who hosted tabling events, volunteered at a Green Husky gymnastics meet, and celebrated the finale of RecycleMania with a farmers market featuring local vendors on Red Square.”
A total of 320 colleges and universities took part in the competition, with UW in Seattle finishing 31 in the overall results. Updated rankings were available online each Friday during the course of the eight-week long competition, spanning from February 5 through April 1, 2017.
UW's Seattle campus diverted nearly 56% of its waste from the landfill during the two-month competition. UW Bothell was even better, with a 58.4% diverstion rate.
About RecycleMania
The RecycleMania Tournament was launched in 2001 as a friendly challenge between Ohio University and Miami University to increase recycling on their campuses. RecycleMania is an independent program of RecycleMania, Inc., a nonprofit composed of a board of directors who are professional college recycling and sustainability managers from across the country. Program management is provided by Keep America Beautiful with additional program support from the United States EPA’s WasteWise program and the College and University Recycling Coalition (CURC). This year, RecycleMania partnered with National Wildlife Foundation’s Campus Ecology program, Campus Conservation Nationals (CCN) and myActions. For complete competition details including a list of participating schools, visit the RecycleMania website at http://recyclemania.org.
About UW Recycling
UW Recycling provides effective daily waste and recycling collection for the UW Seattle campus. However, our role extends well beyond just picking up trash—we also serve as contract administrators, education and outreach experts, waste diversion innovators, and sustainability enthusiasts for the UW Seattle campus. Recycling at the University is designed to be visible and convenient and to maximize the recovery of waste. We strive to serve as a leader by providing innovative recycling, composting and waste reduction solutions and by promoting personal environmental responsibility and actions that minimize waste and maximize recycling. For more information, visit: www.uwrecycling.com