RecycleMania encourages students and staff to waste less and recycle more

The annual and nationwide tournament where colleges compete to reduce waste on their campuses and recycle more, RecycleMania, began on Feb. 2.

Auburn has participated in the event since 2007 and encourages students and staff to take an active role in protecting the planet they call home.

“Auburn University participates in RecycleMania to demonstrate our commitment to environmental stewardship and to generate attention for the university’s recycling and waste reduction programs,” said Joan Hicken, manager of Facilities Management’s Waste Reduction and Recycling Department. “It’s a great platform to promote the importance of proper recycling.”

In 2019, more than four million students and 900,000 thousand faculty and staff members worked together to recycle or compost more than 69 million pounds of waste in the eight-week RecycleMania tournament. That’s the equivalent of removing the annual emissions of 20,895 cars from the road.

Last year, Auburn University averaged more than five pounds of recyclables per person by the end of the eighth week. A total 32,468 people were included in the count, yielding about 162,000 pounds of recyclable goods, including cardboard, paper, plastic, aluminum and steel.

The primary goal, however, is not just recycling products, but reducing waste in the first place.