Denison University recently completed its participation in RecycleMania, a friendly competition between college campuses across the nation to encourage recycling among students, faculty and staff. The overall results place Denison 28th among 363 participating institutions. This year Denison competed in multiple contests with the following results:

•    Recycled material per capita: Denison placed 28th out of 363 with a rate of 28.25 pounds per person.
•    Waste Minimization (competition to produce the least amount of municipal solid waste, including both recyclables and trash per person): Denison finished 161 out of 181 with 81.91 pounds per person.
•    Cardboard recycling: Denison finished 9th out of 231 with 15.32 pounds per person.
•    Bottle and can recycling: Denison finished 12th out of 219 with 6.23 pounds per person.
•    Paper recycling: Denison finished 49th out of 226 with 6.70 pounds per person.
•    Food waste recycling: Denison finished 92nd out of 131 with 1.20 pounds per person.

Sustainability coordinator Jeremy King commented on Denison’s participation. “This year, we improved our recycling rate, recycling nearly five pounds more per person than last year. This is largely attributed to the great work that Scott Barrett, our trash and recycling operator, has done over the course of the year. Scott has worked hard to improve the collection and processing of recyclables on campus.” King continued, “This was Denison's second year in the competition and first year competing in the waste minimization category. Now that we have our feet wet, we can begin to work on ways to reduce our overall consumption for next year's competition.”

Over the course of the competition Denison collected a total of 81,328 pounds of recyclables on campus.