Indiana Recycling Coalition Recognizes

Hoosier Collegiate “RecycleMania” Winners

Twelve Colleges and Universities Statewide Compete to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

Indianapolis, IN, - Every spring, students across the country become RecycleManiacs competing for national supremacy to determine which school can reduce, reuse and recycle the most campus waste. This year, the Indiana Recycling Coalition partnered with RecycleMania to host the first-ever Indiana RecycleMania competition between Indiana’s participants.

From January 23 to April 2, this 8-week challenge ignites classic college rivalries, rallying students, faculty and staff to increase on-campus recycling rates beyond their collegiate competitors. RecycleMania wrapped up its 11^th annual recycling competition in early April, with over 91 million pounds of recyclables and organics recovered from 630 colleges and universities across the country.

Matt McKenna, President and CEO of Keep America Beautiful and Stacy Wheeler,

Co-founder of RecycleMania will co-present the Indiana RecycleMania awards on May 12, during the Indiana Recycling Coalition’s annual conference and exhibition.

“I look forward to helping Indiana recognize the 2011 RecycleMania champions knowing that, by increasing campus recycling, all participating schools are winners,” said Matt McKenna, president and CEO of Keep America Beautiful, Inc. “KAB is proud of our ongoing relationship with the RecycleMania program and look forward to making the competition bigger and better in coming years.”

“The Indiana Recycling Coalition is thrilled to provide an opportunity for Indiana’s RecycleMania participants to compete directly with each other. We hope that the challenge between in-state schools coupled with the local awards program will help grow this friendly competition leading to long-term gains for Indiana’s college and university campus recycling programs,” said Carey Hamilton, Executive Director of the Indiana Recycling Coalition.

The total amount of recyclables and organic materials recovered during the 2011 national competition added up to 91million pounds, which in turn prevented the release of nearly 270 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCO2E). In real-world terms, this reduction in greenhouse gases is equivalent to the annual emissions from 52.8 million passenger cars or the burning of 1.5 million railcars’ worth of coal.

Colleges and universities chose to participate in one of two divisions, either the Competition or Benchmark. The Competition Division houses the traditional competitive rankings based on standard tracking and reporting criteria. The Benchmark Division allows schools to unofficially compare themselves with other schools and to promote RecycleMania on campus without the formal reporting requirements of the competitive ranking. Within each division, schools participate in any of eight categories listed below.

Awards will be given to the school in first place for each of the eight categories below.

The “Grand Champion” top three finalists, determined by the percentage of overall waste that is recycled over 10 weeks, were:

Ø University of Evansville (52.06 %) - Evansville, IN

Ø Butler University (50 %) - Indianapolis, IN

Ø Purdue University - Main Campus (37.86 %) - West Lafayette, IN

The “Per Capita Classic” top three finalists, determined by total pounds of recyclables collected per person over 10 weeks, were:

Ø University of Evansville (15.45 pounds) - Evansville, IN

Ø Purdue University - Main Campus (14.89 pounds) - West Lafayette, IN

Ø Indiana State University (11.22 pounds) - Terre Haute, IN

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The “Waste Minimization” top three finalists, determined by the lowest overall amount of waste (recyclables and trash) per person over 10 weeks, were:

Ø Indiana University - Bloomington (33.55 pounds) - Bloomington, IN

Ø Purdue University - Main Campus (39.32 pounds) - West Lafayette, IN

Ø Indiana State University (45.39 pounds) - Terre Haute, IN

The “Gorilla Prize” top three finalists, determined by the highest cumulative weight of recyclables over 10 weeks, were:

Gorilla Prize

Ø Purdue University - Main Campus (765,159 pounds) - West Lafayette, IN

Ø Indiana University - Bloomington (343,568 pounds) - Bloomington, IN

Ø Indiana State University (125,338 pounds) - Terre Haute, IN

Targeted Material (pounds per person over 10 weeks)

Paper:

Ø University of Evansville (12.49 pounds) - Evansville, IN

Ø Butler University (6.33 pounds) - Indianapolis, IN

Ø Indiana State University (5.69 pounds) - Terre Haute, IN

Corrugated Cardboard:

Ø Indiana State University (4.50 pounds) - Terre Haute, IN

Ø University of Evansville (2.06 pounds) - Evansville, IN

Ø Indiana University - Bloomington (1.83pounds) - Bloomington, IN

Bottles and Cans:

Ø Indiana University - Bloomington (3.94 pounds) - Bloomington, IN

Ø Butler University (1.71 pounds) - Indianapolis, IN

Ø Indiana State University (1.03 pounds) -Terre Haute, IN

Food Service Organics:

Ø Purdue University - Main Campus (2.11 pounds) - West Lafayette, IN

Ø Indiana State University (0.33 pounds) - Terre Haute, IN

Top schools in each category earn “bragging rights,” while the winners of each are recognized by the Indiana Recycling Coalition with an award made of recycled glass.

The competition is made possible with the sponsorship support of The Coca-Cola Company, Alcoa, Waste Management, SCA and the American Forest & Paper Association. Additional program support is provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s WasteWise program and the College and University Recycling Coalition (CURC).