RecycleMania, the premier collegiate recycling competition managed by Keep America Beautiful, is back in action. Georgia Southern University will build school spirit, while competing to see who will claim the championship in the fight to reduce, reuse, recycle and compost the most on campuses across the country. On Feb. 7, Georgia Southern’s 2016 RecycleMania season will begin and run for eight weeks through April 2.
 
Hundreds of participating colleges and universities will compete and report weekly data based on the weight of recycling, food organics and waste reduction collected. Weekly updated rankings will encourage participation, and educational activities, displays and other outreach efforts will rally students and staff to compete even harder.
 
“We’re excited for this sixteenth year of the RecycleMania competition,” said RecycleMania, Inc. president Stacy Wheeler. “Through recent additions like the ‘Most Improved’ category, RecycleMania continues to be a valuable resource for colleges and universities to influence recycling and zero waste behavior with students and staff.”
 
Georgia Southern’s signature event this year will be the student-run construction of an interactive recycled sculpture in the library in mid-March. Look for the Center for Sustainability’s Tuesday lunch-time tabling events featuring spin-the-prize-wheel for recycling trivia, Can-It Freethrow and other recycling games.
 
Once again, students, faculty and staff can expect “Get Caught Green Handed” sightings, in which those caught recycling, drinking from a reusable mug, or engaging in other sustainable behaviors will win prizes and have their photos posted on social media.
 
A new addition this year is the recycling competition among on-campus residence halls to see which produces the most recycled goods.
 
“Georgia Southern has assembled a great support team including DFS, CfS, Housing, Greek Life and the Zach Henderson Library to help make RecycleMania a success – now all we need is YOU!” said Lissa Leege, Director of the Center for Sustainability. “Recycle your cans, bottles, paper and cardboard, do some spring cleaning, and recycle your old files. Don’t bin it – let’s WIN it and take home another SunBelt championship!”