FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – For the fourth year in a row, the University of Arkansas is taking part in “RecycleMania,” a national competition among college and university recycling programs.

For the period from Feb. 1 through April 2, the university is competing to find out who can collect the most recyclable material per person, the largest total amount of recyclables, the least trash per person, or have the highest recycling rate. In past contests, the University of Arkansas has won different categories of the competition when matched against its Southeastern Conference peers.

Prizes are offered to people living in campus housing to spur the competition among those living in Greek houses and residence halls. Campus buildings used by faculty and staff are also counted in the competition.

“Recyclemania is a great way to foster a sense of competition while educating the campus community about the importance of reducing waste and recycling,” said Nick Brown, director of campus sustainability. “The university’s Razorback Recycling is collecting and weighing the recyclables from each hall or house and tracking the data. Prizes will be offered for the groups that have the highest participation and amounts of materials recycled.”

New to this year’s competition are a Facebook page and Twitter presence so people can follow the progress and learn valuable tips about recycling.

Weekly status boards are being posted on the Razorback Recycling website to keep the campus appraised of the previous week’s collection data. The recyclable items that are tracked by the contest include paper, cardboard, cans and bottles. Contest managers will evaluate performance, and cash prizes will be awarded to the residence halls and Greek organizations that recycle the most on a per capita basis.

During the 10 weeks of last year’s RecycleMania, the university collected 110 tons of paper, cardboard, cans and bottles, an average of 10 pounds per person, which was 10 percent more than recyclable collections before the competition began.

The University of Arkansas has run a recycling program on campus since 1991.