Event Will Kick Off Recyclemania Activities On Campus


recyclemania

RecycleMania activities on the University of Houston campus get underway Jan. 30 with a special kickoff event in Butler Plaza.

From 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., students and other members of the UH community can stop by and learn more about RecycleMania from representatives of the UH Office of Sustainability. Students can make a recycling pledge and receive a small gift.

Organizations and groups will also be able to sign up for the RecycleMania competition, which begins the week of Feb. 3. There are three categories of competition:

  • Small (groups with 25 or fewer members)
  • Medium (groups with 26 to 50 members)
  • Large (groups of more than 50 members)

Groups who can’t make it to the kickoff event can still register by emailing sustainability@uh.edu, putting "RecycleMania 2014 Registration - (insert name of org)" in the subject line and saying “I’m interested!” in the body of the message. The fun and entertaining competition related to waste reduction, reuse and recycling includes many great prizes being awarded to winners of seven weekly themed activities.

Students, faculty and staff who come out to the kickoff event will have a chance to be part of an Office of Sustainability video encouraging the UH community to recycle.

"Everyone is encouraged to come out and learn how they can participate in RecycleMania," said Maria Honey, assistant director of marketing and communications for Auxiliary Services. "Together, we can make a difference in the amount of waste we generate and how much we recycle."

In addition to the campus competition, the university will be participating in the national RecycleMania competition. Last year, UH placed first out of 21 participating schools in Texas in the event’s gorilla prize category, which recognizes schools that recycle the highest combined gross tonnage of paper, cardboard, bottles and cans, no matter the size of the campus. Nationally, UH placed 36th out of 365 schools in the gorilla category.

This year, UH will be competing against other universities in four categories: grand champion, per capita classic, gorilla prize and waste minimization.