In only 10 weeks of work, college students among 76 New England schools competing in a nation-wide recycling competition recovered 9.27 million pounds of recyclables and organics.

Nationally, 607 schools participated in the 2010 RecycleMania challenge, resulting in over 84.5 million pounds of material being recycled, which in turn prevented the release of nearly 137,500 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. "RecycleMania is reinvigorating colleges to minimize their waste and help the environment," said Curt Spalding, regional administrator of EPA's New England office. "As we celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day, it’s exciting and gives us hope that college students throughout New England actively helping to protect our environment."

In 2010, Suffolk University achieved its best performance yet, placing in the top 10% nationally for the Grand Champion category, which measures waste reduction and recycling. Suffolk placed #3 in Massachusetts, with 18 schools competing.

"With all of the efforts we are putting into reducing waste and increasing recycling, these results are extremely encouraging," said Suffolk Campus Sustainability Coordinator Erica Mattison.

RecycleMania is affiliated with EPA’s WasteWise program, a free partnership helping U.S. organizations eliminate or reduce costly waste, which benefits both the financial bottom line as well as the environment. In March 2010, EPA recognized Suffolk University from Boston, Mass. with a 2009 WasteWise Gold Achievement Award in the Employee Education Category. EPA New England encourages all New England colleges to continue their waste reduction efforts year round and join EPA’s WasteWise program. Partners get free access to Re-TRAC, a web-based data management and reporting system.

More Information

Information about RecycleMania, including the 2010 participating schools and results.

To learn more about the EPA WasteWise program, the Re-TRAC tool, and how to join as a WasteWise Partner.

About RecycleMania

RecycleMania was launched in 2001 as a friendly challenge between Ohio University and Miami University to increase recycling on their campuses. The contest has expanded rapidly in nine years’ time from two schools in 2001 to 607 colleges and universities in 2010 spanning 49 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada. Over a 10-week period, campuses compete to see which institution can collect the largest amount of recyclables per person, the largest amount of total recyclables, the least amount of trash per person, or have the highest recycling rate. For complete competition background and details.

About WasteWise

WasteWise was launched in 1994 and has over 2000 partners. WasteWise is a free, voluntary EPA program through which organizations eliminate costly waste, benefiting their bottom line and the environment. WasteWise members can join as partners, endorsers, or both. Partners join to change their own behavior and track their own internal waste reduction efforts with Re-TRAC, a web-based data management and reporting system. For more information on WasteWise, Re-TRAC or to join as a WasteWise Partner.