TUCSON, Ariz. – Cardboard boxes, old newspapers and plastic bottles spill out of overstuffed recycling bins and into walkways in residence halls across the University of Arizona campus, but officials are not complaining.

Recycle mania , a 10-week long competition among colleges and universities across the nation, promotes recycling and waste reduction with incentives like trophies, awards and certificates and is in full swing.

“The goal is to build a culture of recycling,” said Liz Zavodsky, coordinator of sustainability education for Residence Life at the UA. “The fact that it’s (Recycle mania) a competition might just be an enhancer.”

The UA is just one of the 400 schools nationwide participating in this year’s competition to collect the largest amount of recyclables per capita. Last year the UA residents living in the dorms collected 13.32 lbs of recyclables per person.

The competition’s main goal is to increase student awareness of campus recycling, but the competition also brings out the competitive spirit in some.

“We wanna beat last year, and if we didn’t do this, all of this would be going in to the landfill, and that scares me,” Zavodsky said.
Hall directors around campus help to spread the message about the competition to their halls.

“Recycle mania is one of those cool opportunities for a community to come together with one common goal,” said Steve Harrison, a complex director in La Paz Residence Hall.

Despite efforts of hall directors and resident assistants around campus to increase recycling, some residents remain unmotivated to change their ways.

“The vast majority (of residents) are probably still a little unaware,” Harrison said. “Those are still souls to be converted, so to speak.”
Even eco-programs like “Cereal and Environmental Justice,” a program organized by resident assistants in Pueblo de la Cienega, are used to promote Recycle mania and encourage residents to recycle.

“I usually try to recycle but during Recycle mania the other RA’s get on me if I throw a can in the trash,” said Carson Scott, a resident in Pueblo de la Cienega.

Despite well-intentioned efforts to educate residents about recycling as a lifelong habit, cheating is a problem. Old stacks of the Arizona Daily Wildcat, a free college newspaper, are often thrown into the recycle bins in an attempt to increase bags of recyclables and win the competition.
“We don’t count them when we think people are cheating,” Zavodsky said. “This year they are catching on, so, they will crumple them (newspapers).”

“Just take a stack and put one in every hour,” said Cassandra Stout, a resident assistant in La Paz Residence Hall, sarcastically. “They will never know.”

In efforts to increase environmental friendliness, the Department of Residence Life at the UA is planning on making its three new residence halls certified at the silver level by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System.

To meet the LEED silver certification, new residence halls will have to earn a number of points by adding environmentally friendly aspects to the building. Some of the possible improvements include reducing the amount of light pollution through using outdoor coverings and improving water efficiency through waterless landscaping.

“The university as a whole has committed to making any new building on campus at least a LEED silver-certified building,” Zavodsky said.