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Campus preps for nationwide recycle contest

The ten-week long RecycleMania event will kick off with a pep rally at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow at the UC Satellite.

“RecycleMania is a friendly competition between universities to promote waste reduction activities,” Billy Garner, university services program coordinator, said. “(Schools are) ranked according to who collects the largest amount of recyclables per capita, the largest amount of total recyclables, the least amount of trash per capita or have the highest recycling rate.”

Assistant Vice President for University Services Emily Messa will introduce RecycleMania by discussing UH’s previous role in the competition and this year’s expectations.

UH Go Green will also announce the winner of the Green UH T-shirt competition, provide instructions on how to get involved and distribute information on RecycleMania events.

There are 630 schools registered to participate, and the competition is split into two divisions — the competition division and the benchmark division, according to Garner.

“UH will participate in the competition division with other Texas universities such as University of Texas, Texas A&M and Rice,” Garner said.

UH won first place in Texas in actual weight recyclables and won seventh in the nation in overall waste minimization last year.

Students and faculty are encouraged to join the campus-wide competition to increase recycling numbers.

Four or more students or staff members make up a group, and groups can sign up at http://www.uh.edu/af/recyclemania/competition.htm.

“Every year, we’ve seen the amount of recycling go up and can’t wait for another exciting year that stands above all the rest,” Jonas Chin, university services constituent relations coordinator, said. “With everyone participating from the UH community, we’re confident we can meet the goals of defending the Texas RecycleMania actual weight recycling title and raising the numbers compared to last year. We can’t wait and [are] glad RecycleMania is here!”

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