This press release details the results of the 2015 RecycleMania tournament, a waste reduction and recycling competition among colleges and universities across 49 U.S. states and Canada. This year’s competition engaged 4.1 million students at 394 schools to recycle or compost 80.1 million pounds of recyclables and organic materials, preventing the release of 129,411 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCO2E) into the atmosphere. This year, RecycleMania introduced a new aspect of the competition, the “3R Actions Challenge”, which encourages students to not only take action by reducing, reusing, and recycling, but also share those actions via social media networks.

Massachusetts school highlights for RecycleMania 2015 include:

• Harvard University, 2nd Place in Gorilla prize (highest gross tonnage of combined paper, cardboard and bottles/cans recycling regardless of campus population)
• Westfield State University, 5th Place in Paper and 5th Place in Bottles and Cans

RecyclingWorks in Massachusetts has helpful resources and can provide technical assistance when starting or improving recycling and composting programs at colleges and universities. Email RecyclingWorks or call (888) 254-5525 for more information.