Kent State University mascot Flash encourages members
of the university community to recycle. Kent State is
competing in this year's RecycleMania Challenge, which
promotes waste reduction activities on college campuses.

For the sixth year in a row, Kent State University is competing in the RecycleMania Challenge. RecycleMania is a competition for college and university recycling programs that helps to promote waste reduction activities in their campus communities.

The competition started on Feb. 1 and runs for eight weeks. Colleges report the amount of recycling and trash collected each week and are then ranked based on various categories. With each week’s rankings, schools track their own performance against each other.

A regional tournament also is underway during the eight-week period between Kent State and the University of Akron based on the school that recycles the most per capita. The winner will receive the Braggin’ Wheel, a trophy made of recyclable materials, and bragging rights for a year.

Kent State has internal RecycleMania competitions including a Hall vs. Hall Challenge, a custodial area challenge, and weekly competitions for faculty and staff as well as weekly competitions for students with prize drawings.

Everyone at Kent State is a participant in RecycleMania. Those who reduce, reuse and recycle become part of the effort to prevent waste from going to landfills and contribute to Kent State’s standings in RecycleMania.

Kent State has improved each year it has participated in RecycleMania, says Melanie Knowles, Kent State’s sustainability manager. The goal this year, she adds, is to increase the diversion rate – the percentage of waste stream that is recycled instead of landfilled – from last year’s 23 percent to 35 percent.

“Each year, we increase our outreach around RecycleMania,” Knowles says. “New this year is a social media competition, including weekly challenges for faculty, staff and students. We really want to get people interested in RecycleMania and excited about the weekly competitions.”

Students can get involved in the social media competition by using #KSUrecycles on social media. Once students start hashtagging, they will be able to view what others are doing on a live tagboard. Students will be allowed to submit entries on Twitter and Instagram to participate in the weekly competitions.

“We hope that by adding the weekly competitions this year, it will make it easier for students to participate,” says Leah Graham, outreach and recycling coordinator at Kent State. “The prize rewards are a fun way for us to thank the campus community for the action everyone does every day to minimize waste on campus.”

At the end of the eight-week period, national recognition will be given to the winning schools in each category on the RecycleMania website and in a national press release. Each winning school also will receive an award made out of recyclable materials.

For more information about Kent State’s RecycleMania, visit www.kent.edu/sustainability/recyclemania.