RecycleMania 2018 Winners Announced

The winners of RecycleMania 2018, the nation’s premier waste reduction and recycling competition among colleges and universities managed by Keep America Beautiful and sponsored by Rubbermaid Commercial Products, have been announced.

College of Staten Island and the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) have been named the winners of the two primary categories of the competition. College of Staten Island won the Diversion category with a recycling rate of more than 94.8 percent, and RISD won the Per Capita Classic category with 82.36 pounds.

This year, 300 schools from 46 states in the U.S., the District of Columbia and Canada participated in the competition. Participating colleges and universities were ranked in various categories according to how much recycling and food waste they diverted from landfill over a two-month period. Between the kickoff on February 4 and the final recycling weigh-in on March 31, participating schools recycled or composted 68.6 million pounds of waste, preventing the release of 94,152 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCO2E) into the atmosphere.

Other popular categories of the competition include Food Organics and GameDay Basketball. Knox College won the Food Organics category, and Ohio University and Loyola Marymount University won the GameDay Basketball-Diversion and GameDay Basketball-Per Capita Recycling categories.

“RecycleMania participants are the next generation of recycling industry leaders, and the work that they do during the competition is a springboard into their lifelong commitment to recycling,” said Stacy Wheeler, president of RecycleMania, Inc., in a statement. “For eight weeks, these student groups dedicate their time to educate their campus on the importance of recycling and do so in an engaging, creative and resourceful way. In particular, the Campus Case Study competition showcases the different, innovative ways college students think about and address today’s waste reduction issues. Every year, it is very exciting to see the work done to advance recycling.”

Since the competition launched in 2001, millions of students at nearly 1,000 colleges and universities have recycled and composted more than 960 million pounds of material during the tournament timeframe. Together, tournament participants have prevented the release of nearly 1.46 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, which is comparable to removing more than 300,000 passenger vehicles from the road for one year.

“RecycleMania provides us with an opportunity to engage with college students around the importance of recycling and to encourage them to make the act of recycling a part of their daily routine,” said Helen Lowman, president and CEO of Keep America Beautiful, in a statement. “Our goal with programs like RecycleMania is that these recycling behaviors stick with the participants throughout their lives, and in turn, they educate their family and friends about the value of recycling and composting.”

A complete list of the 2018 winners, and a breakout that shows how schools performed by Carnegie, as well by state, athletic conference and other groupings, can be found on Recyclemania’s website.