University of Missouri-Kansas City named grand champion of recycling competition
The University of Missouri-Kansas City has been named Grand Champion of the 2013 RecycleMania Tournament.
The university recycled 86.02 percent of its waste during the eight-week competition, RecycleMania reports.
UMKC was one of 523 colleges and universities that competed in the 2013 RecycleMania. Schools are ranked according to how much recycling, trash and food waste they collect.
Between Feb. 3 and March 30, the participating schools recovered 90.3 million pounds of recyclables and organic materials; that prevented the release of nearly 121,436 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent into the atmosphere.
Winners in the other two primary categories:
- California State University, San Marcos, won the “Per Capita Classic” category, collecting 53.11 pounds of recyclables per person.
- Valencia College in Orlando, Fla., won the “Waste Minimization” category for the lowest recyclables and trash per person (3.20 pounds).
“Promoting recycling and waste reduction to college students is an important step to building and sustaining vibrant communities, both on campuses and beyond,” says Matt McKenna, president and CEO of Keep America Beautiful, which sponsors and administers the program.
During the tournament, the 13th annual, colleges received updated weekly rankings them enabled them to track their performance in eight categories – measuring their recycling rate; overall recycling by weight; lowest amount of total waste; and per capita recovery for paper, cardboard, cans and bottles, and food waste.
Colleges also participated in special categories targeting electronics and film plastics, as well as the “Game Day: Basketball” category, which ranked schools based on recyclables collected at a single home basketball game.