2017 Recyclemania Tournament

Lehigh is currently participating in the national 2017 RecycleMania Tournament, which runs from February 5 - April 1.  RecycleMania is a friendly competition between colleges and universities to promote waste reduction and recycling activities in campus communities.  This is the fifth year that Lehigh is participating in this tournament. 

The Office of Sustainability, in collaboration with Facilities Services, Eco-Reps, Dining Services, Engineers Without Borders, Global Union, Green Action, Lehigh After Dark, Lehigh Athletics, and Student Affairs is in full swing of the RecycleMania calendar of events and campaigns to help promote behavior change among faculty, staff, and students on campus.  On February 15, the Office of Sustainability and Eco-Reps, in partnership with Lehigh Athletics and Lehigh Concessions held its marquee Game Day Basketball event.  At this game, Lehigh was compared against other schools based on its waste diversion efforts.  Fans were encouraged to recycle and compost as much as they could during the game.  Green Team student volunteers engaged fans with fun recycling games and giveaways and helped collect trash, recycling, and composting. The waste diversion rate at this game was 58.3%, this was up significantly from last year’s Game Day Basketball waste diversion rate of 40.71%, in large part due to the implementation of composting at this year’s game!

As part of the eight week competition, Lehigh will report the amount of recycling and trash collected each week across campus and in turn will be ranked in various categories based on which schools: recycle the most on a per capita basis and have the best recycling rate as a percentage of total waste.  Results are posted weekly on the RecycleMania website.  Lehigh’s current results for Week 3 of the tournament are below.  

Current Results

• -Per Capita Classic (Lbs Per Capita): 23 of 213 schools
• -Diversion (Recycling Rate %): 88 of 171 schools

There are still several weeks left in the competition.  Track Lehigh’s progress and standings throughout the competition!

How do our current results compare to the results from previous years?  See below.

Past Results

• -Post a recycling flier and trash flier above your bins

• -Learn more about recycling on campus beyond paper, cardboard, cans, glass, and plastic bottles.

• -Replace one time use items with reusable items (like water bottles or plastic bags)

• -Avoid using Styrofoam--it is not recyclable

• -Faculty and staff: swap out your desk-side 7 gallon trash bin for a mini bin. To kickstart a good recycling habit.  Register here.

• -Use a reusable mug to avoid using single use coffee cups

• -Lehigh Dining Services is offering $0.99 brewed coffee (any size) when you use a reusable mug during Recyclemania

• -University Bookstore is offering $1.00 hot or iced coffee (any size) when you use a reusable mug during Recyclemania

It is also important to think about Recyclemania beyond a successful competition.  As Gary Falasca, the Director of Custodial, Grounds, and Athletics Buildings for Facilities Services & Campus Planning states, “We hope that the practices learned from the Recyclemania competition remain in place moving forward.  This will help our collective community of faculty, staff, and students attain the Campus Sustainability Plan 2020 goals of a 10% overall reduction in waste and a 10% overall increase in recycling compared to 2012 data.”

Recycle to win!  Go Lehigh!

Questions? Visit our Recyclemania website for more information or contact sustainability@lehigh.edu.