RecycleMania, the premier collegiate recycling competition managed by Keep America Beautiful, is back in action as college campuses build school spirit while competing to see who will claim the championship in the fight to reduce, reuse, recycle and compost the most on campus. On Sunday, Feb. 7, the 2016 RecycleMania competition began and will run for eight weeks alongside the collegiate basketball season.

To date, over 300 schools, including college football national champion runner-up Clemson University, Stanford University, University of Kentucky, Harvard University and University of Michigan, among others, have registered to compete. Registration for new and returning colleges and universities was open through Feb. 5.

Colleges and universities compete in several categories based on the weight of recycling, food organics and waste reduction collected. Each week, schools report their data and use updated rankings to rally students and staff with educational activities, displays and other outreach efforts.

New to this year’s competition is the “Electronics Recycling” category and the “Most Improved” category, which will measure schools’ 2016 performance relative to their performance in the 2015 RecycleMania competition. And the “Game Day: Basketball” category, in its third year, will continue to bring the excitement courtside, challenging schools to reduce waste and increase recycling during a selected home basketball game.

“We’re excited for this sixteenth year of the RecycleMania competition,” said RecycleMania, Inc. president Stacy Wheeler. “Through recent additions like GameDay Basketball and the Most Improved category, RecycleMania continues to be a valuable resource for colleges and universities to influence recycling and zero waste behavior with students and staff.”

“Keep America Beautiful is focused on making recycling easier by educating and engaging individuals about what to recycle – at home, at work, on the go and in schools from kindergarten through college across America,” said Brenda Pulley, senior vice president, recycling, Keep America Beautiful. “The RecycleMania competition motivates students on college and university campuses to recycle which in turn is one action that will help foster the next generation of community stewards.”

RecycleMania is made possible with the generous sponsorship support of Alcoa Foundation, The Coca-Cola Company, CyclePoint from SourceAmerica and Rubbermaid Commercial Products, with comprehensive program management by Keep America Beautiful.

“Partnering with RecyleMania aligns with Alcoa Foundation’s goal to increase environmental awareness by creating a community of sustainability ambassadors,” said Alice Truscott, program manager, Alcoa Foundation. “RecycleMania helps millions of students, faculty and staff take recycling on their campuses to another level, and we are looking forward to seeing the impactful results of the competition.”

“Coca-Cola believes in supporting recycling initiatives that drive positive actions and change,” said Bruce Karas, vice president of environment and sustainability at Coca-Cola North America. “Coca-Cola is a longtime supporter of RecycleMania because it encourages college students to recycle more through friendly and fun competition. It helps create recycling habits that continue throughout their lives and impact future generations.”

“RecycleMania has done an excellent job encouraging colleges and universities to recycle,” said Kristine Sickels, senior vice president of marketing, RCP.  “Rubbermaid Commercial Products is committed to innovating products that assist in the recycling process making it easier to increase diversion rates away from landfills.”   

Since the competition launched in 2001, millions of students from 750 colleges and universities have recycled and composted roughly 653 million pounds of material during the tournament timeframe. Together, tournament participants have prevented the release of nearly 900,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, which is comparable to removing 7 million passenger vehicles from the road for one year.

A complete list of participants can be found at Recyclemania.org.