EUGENE, Ore. –(Jan. 20, 2012) – Civil War rivalries have moved beyond athletics competitions into blood drives, energy generation contests and now a battle to see whether the University of Oregon or Oregon State University is a better recycler.

RecycleMania, a national collegiate competition aimed at promoting waste reduction and encouraging campus communities to adopt healthy recycling habits, begins Jan. 22 and runs until March 31.  The first two weeks serve as a practice period that is not included in total tallies for the national rankings.

Although a national competition, the University of Oregon will focus on competing with Oregon State University based on the rivalry, similar populations of both schools and how evenly matched the schools have been in previous RecycleMania competitions.

The past two years, the universities have competed in the Per Capita Classic, where the universities report a weekly per capita of recyclables collected. At the end of 10 weeks, the weekly per capita totals are added together, and the school with the highest cumulative weekly average wins.

OSU has held the title and trophy the past two years. In 2010, OSU recorded 14.15 lbs. per person and UO recorded 12.23 lbs. per person. In 2011, OSU recorded 20.8 lbs. per person and UO recorded 15.3 lbs. per person.

“I hope to see more people recycling and composting more often at the UO. It’s unfortunately common to see easily recyclable and compostable items in the garbage around campus,” said Robyn Hathcock, housing recycling coordinator at the UO.

“If all students, faculty and staff made the daily choice to keep those items out of the garbage and put them in a recycling bin, we’d easily see an improvement over last year’s number and could possibly ensure a victory over OSU in the RecycleMania civil war.”

The Civil War RecycleMania competition differs from the national competition slightly. UO and OSU include the first two practice weeks into their totals. The two universities also include paper, bottles and cans, cardboard and food service organics into their weekly totals.

Although RecycleMania is a competition, Hathcock expressed that the real goal of the competition is to improve recycling efforts on campus and change habits of campus residence.

“Participating in RecycleMania raises awareness about recycling and composting and promotes waste reduction efforts at the UO,” said Hathcock. “Recycling sites are plentiful and accessible in every area of campus so it is easy for every student, faculty and staff member to participate. Compost collection at campus cafes and dining areas furthers a person’s ability to make a positive environmental difference. Each person on campus contributes to the UO raising its game and each person is a part of the team when competing in RecycleMania.”

MEDIA CONTACT: Julie Brown, director of media relations, 541-346-3185, julbrown@uoregon.edu

SOURCE:Robyn Hathcock, recycling coordinator, 541-346-0929, rjhath@uoregon.edu

–by Rachel Starr, media relations intern

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