NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – RecycleMania has gone international in 2010, and more than 600 colleges in the U.S. and Canada (plus one in Qatar!) will be looking to unseat Rutgers, three-time defender of the prestigious Gorilla Prize for overall recycling.

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The university community collected 2,131,378 pounds of recyclables in last winter’s 10-week, friendly collegiate competition, more than doubling the total recycling weights of the runner-up, according to the official RecycleMania website. For this year’s contest, which runs Jan. 17 to March 27, Rutgers will not rest on its laurels, promises green purchasing manager Magda Comeau. “We will hold a ‘Low Carbs, Zero Waste Challenge,’ aka the ‘Battle of the Office Bulge,’” Comeau said. “It’s a contest within a contest to encourage widespread participation, and the purchasing department will award a new, energy-efficient printer – to replace a minimum of two older units – to the department that recycles the most paper.”

Prior to becoming “RecycleManiacs” in 2004, Rutgers students, faculty, staff and administrators boasted a keen sense of environmental responsibility but the competition has been a “real call to action,” said Dianne Gravatt, director of environmental services and grounds, whose team at University Facilities has been instrumental in recycling and waste management success. “As a university, we are recycling 67 percent of waste generated annually,” Gravatt said. “While impressive, we certainly have the potential to recycle 77 percent of waste.”

Still, Rutgers’ 2009 efforts saved 4,600 cubic yards of landfill space (the equivalent of waste produced by 5,900 households annually), 8.33 million gallons of water (enough to fulfill the yearly needs of 111,000 people) and 2,863 barrels of oil (enough energy to heat 600 homes for a year). Thanks to its new solar farm on the Livingston Campus and other efficiencies, Rutgers saved almost 5 million kilowatt-hours of electricity (sufficient to power more than 400 homes for a year) and reduced its greenhouse gas output by about 2,200 metric tons of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of saving nearly 15,000 mature trees.

Besides winning three consecutive RecycleMania Gorilla Prizes, Rutgers is a perennial powerhouse in such categories as recycled food waste, bottles and cans, corrugated cardboard and per capita recycling. The university has received numerous other honors, including its selection as the 2009 Energy Educator of the Year, a Clean Energy Leadership Award, by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities. The federal Environmental Protection Agency honored Rutgers with its 2008 Gold Achievement Award for Recycling and as its “WasteWise Partner of the Year” in 2007. Also in 2007, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection bestowed its Clean Water New Jersey Award.

Rutgers also has received an Award of Merit from the Campus Safety, Health and Environmental Management Association for its comprehensive Environmental, Health and Safety Program and was co-winner (with Cornell University) of MTV’s Break the Addiction Final Exam, which challenged students groups to submit evidence of educational activities and policy advocacy to reduce their school’s global warming pollution.

RecycleMania is supported by the EPA’s WasteWise Program, the National Recycling Coalition and the College and University Recycling Council. For more information on RecycleMania 2010, visit www.recyclemania.org, http://facilities.rutgers.edu/ or http://purchasing.rutgers.edu/green/index.html.

Media Contact: Steve Manas
732-932-7084, ext. 612
E-mail: smanas@ur.rutgers.edu