FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Office for Sustainability is leading this year’s RecycleMania competition on the U of A campus, working to collect more than last year’s total of 240,00 pounds of recycled material.

RecycleMania is an eight week national competition, running from February 1 through March 28. Students, faculty and staff on hundreds of campuses across the country are vying to see who can waste the least and recycle the most. This is the eighth year the U of A has been part of RecycleMania.

The Office for Sustainability will be collecting and reporting all recycling on campus – from residence halls to faculty and staff offices -- as well as tracking and and seeking to cut down the amount that is thrown away as a campus. Recycled items include plastic bottles, cans, cardboard and all types of paper.

Here are a few ways to get involved in the competition:

• Organize your residence hall floor – or even the entire hall
• Spring cleaning your office? Don’t throw away all that stuff – recycle everything you can.
• Use the PepsiCo Dream Machines at the Arkansas Union, and other recycling bins around campus.  

The Office for Sustainability will be announcing additional types of recycling drives in the coming weeks.

“The real goal of RecycleMania is to get people on campus in the habit of recycling,” said Carlos Ochoa, Jr., director of the Office of Sustainability. “The University of Arkansas wants to be a Zero Waste institution by the year 2021. That will take more awareness of sustainability and sustainable practices.”