FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The University of Arkansas is currently competing for the top spot in a national recycling competition, vying against 27 other colleges and universities for a first prize of $25,000.

The contest is built around the two PepsiCo Dream Machines in the Arkansas Union. The PepsiCo challenge is to increase the number of plastic bottles and aluminum cans recycled through the two kiosks between Oct. 1 and March 31 of the current school year. Whichever college or university has the biggest increase over the same period in the previous school year is the winner. First prize is $25,000.

So far, U of A students, faculty, staff and everyone else visiting the Arkansas Union have more than doubled their recycling, showing an increase of 118 percent. That’s good enough for second place and a $15,000 prize. There are still two and a half months left to push the U of A totals, and percentage increase, even higher. The updated rankings, and contest rules, are posted on PepsiCo Recycling website.

In October, the last month for which figures are available, a total of 63 pounds of plastic bottles and aluminum cans were recycled, which works out to 611 bottles and 752 cans.

November figures should be available in two weeks.

PepsiCo installed the Dream Machine kiosks, along with 49 smaller recycling bins, in and around the Arkansas Union in late February, 2013. There was already an active recycling effort in the Union, and this was a way to make it even easier to recycle plastic bottles and aluminum cans.  

The response has been impressive: as of October, 18,404 aluminum cans and plastic bottles have been recycled since the kiosks were installed.