Greening Princeton

What is Recyclemania and how do we win?

Recyclemania is a friendly recycling competition between colleges to increase recycling and decrease waste generated on campuses. This competition will help raise awareness among students and faculty about the potential to reduce trash production and increase recycling participation. A list of participating schools can be found here.

The Recyclemania competition consists of three contests, which college can:

• Recycle the most per person: "The Per Capita Classic"
• Produce the least waste per person: "Waste Minimization"
• Perform the best in the above two categories: "The Grand Champion"

During the 10-week competition, schools will report how much they recycle and throw out by weighing their waste haulers. Recyclemania posts weekly results so you can track how Princeton is doing!

Is Princeton really 'crazy' about recycling?

Results

Here are our results so far: (quantities in pounds)

Recyclemania Data for 2007
(weight reported in pounds)
		Municipal Trash	Paper	Bottles & Cans	Total	Recycling Total	Ratio of Recycling to Overall Waste Total	Cumulative percentage
Week # 1 Jan 28 - Feb. 3		76,320	37,080	8,360	121,760	45,440	37.32%	37.32%
			0
Week # 2  Feb. 4 - Feb. 10		104,960	24,280	9,600	138,840	33,880	24.40%	30.44%
Week # 3  Feb. 11 - Feb. 17		131,440	38,740	6,620	176,800	45,360	25.66%	28.50%
Week # 4  Feb. 18 - Feb 24		119,760	37,680	12740	170,180	50,420	29.63%	28.82%
Week # 5  Feb. 25 - Mar. 3		124,640	43,640	12,740	181,020	56,380	31.15%	29.35%
Week # 6 Mar. 4 - Mar. 10		122,140	35,120	8,480	165,740	43,600	26.31%	28.82%
Week # 7  Mar. 11 - Mar 17		124,240	35,720	13,760	173,720	49,480	28.48%	28.77%
Week # 8  Mar. 18 - Mar 24		102,240	37,500	3,500	143,240	41,000	28.62%	28.75%
Week # 9  Mar. 25 - Mar. 31		114,400	42,979	9,140	166,519	52,119	31.30%	29.05%
Week # 10  Apr.1 - Apr. 7		-	-	-	0	0	#DIV/0!	0.00%
Cumulative Total		1,020,140	332,739	84,940	1,437,819	417,679	29.05%

Rankings

Here's where we stand compared to other schools:
Note: Results are cumulative from week 1 through each week shown

See full rankings.

Week (cumulative)	Grand Champion		Per Capita Recyclables		Waste Minimization		Paper		Cans/Bottles		Food Waste
	rank	recycling rate	rank	lbs/person	rank	lbs/person	rank	lbs/person	rank	lbs/person	rank	lbs/person
1 Jan 28 - Feb. 3	14	37.32	19	14.2	40	11.05	3	3.36	11	0.76
2 Feb 4 -10	28	30.44	23	7.2	42	23.65	3	5.57	9	1.63
3 Feb 11-17	22	28.5	23	11.3	54	39.69	9	6.36	12	2.23	19	1.38
5 Feb. 25 -Mar. 3	25	29.35	19	21.01	56	71.56	7	11.52	9	4.54	21	1.38
8 Mar. 18-Mar. 24	25	28.75	20	33.17	53	115.37	8	18.41	12	6.88	4	28.34

Easy ways to reduce waste:

• Remove yourself from junk mail lists - see dmaconsumers.org
• Print and copy double-sided
• Bring reusable mugs when getting drinks to go
• Bring your own bag when shopping
• Use rechargeable batteries
• Buy goods with minimal packaging and/or in bulk
• Filter your tap water instead of buying bottled water
• When moving out at the end of the academic year, sell your furniture on Point TigerTrade or donate it to the graduate student charity furniture drive

Facts from the National Recycling Coalition:

• Producing a product from recycled aluminum requires 95% less energy than producing it from raw materials.  Similarly, producing steel from recycled materials saves 60%, recycling newspaper saves 40%, recycling plastics 70%, and recycling glass 40%. 
• A national recycling rate of 30% reduces greenhouse gas emissions as much as removing nearly 25 million cars from the road.
• Recycling one ton of steel conserves 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal and 120 pounds of limestone.
• Wars over natural resources, including timber and minerals, have killed or displaced more than 20 million. Recycling eases the demand for the resources.
• An average of 40 mine workers are killed on the job each day, making mining the world's most deadly occupation. Recycling reduces the need for mining.

Links and Downloads:
Recyclemania info sheet
Recyclemania poster
Recyclemania official site

Press Coverage:

• Daily Princetonian - 02/08/2006
• Princeton Packet - 01/27/2006
  

Want to help? Have new ideas or suggestions? Join Greening Princeton!

Contact us at greening(at)princeton.edu

Last updated February 2006