Memorandum
January 31, 2002
To:
Everybody
From:
Logan Walters, Miami University Associate Recycling Coordinator
Ed Newman, Ohio University Recycling & Refuse Manager
Craig Wittig, Bowling Green Recycling & Refuse Manager
Rob Gogan, Harvard University Waste Manager
RE:
FYI -- 2002 Recycling Mania Competition
We have prepared a media packet announcing our “Recycle Mania” Competition for the News and Public
Information departments at Miami University, Ohio University, Bowling Green University and Harvard
University.
If you have any questions about the content of the packet, please contact us at the following addresses.
Thank you.
Happy Recycling.
Logan Walters, Miami University’s Associate Recycling Coordinator
Phone # 513-529-7005
E-mail: loganwalters@yahoo.com
Ed Newman, Ohio University’s Recycling & Refuse Manager
Phone # 740-593-0231
E-mail: newman@mail.facilities.ohiou.edu
Craig Wittig, Bowling Green University’s Recycling & Refuse Manager
Phone # 419-372-8909
E-mail: cwittig@bgnet.bgsu.edu
Rob Gogan, Harvard University’s Waste Manager
Phone # 617-495-3042
E-mail: rob_gogan@harvard.edu
Printed on recycled paper
Recycle Mania 2002 Media Packet
Introduction
This media packet will aid in the promotion of the 2002 Recycle Mania event sponsored by four
recycling programs at Miami University, Ohio University, Bowling Green University and Harvard
University. Inquiries about the 2002 Recycle Mania event can be directed to Logan Walters (Miami
University’s representative), Ed Newman (Ohio University’s representative), Craig Wittig (Bowling
Green University’s representative) and Rob Gogan (Harvard University’s representative).
This media packet contains the following information:

What is Recycle Mania 2002? (General Overview)

Why is there a need for Recycle Mania?

Overall Goals and Objectives of Recycle Mania
*Miami University’s Recycling Profile
*Ohio University’s Recycling Profile
*Bowling Green University’s Recycling Profile
*Harvard University’s Recycling Profile

Rules of Recycle Mania 2002
*Important Dates
*How to Play
*Acceptable Recyclables
*Measurements
*Disposition of the Competition

Announcement of Achievements and Prizes
Printed on recycled paper
What is Recycle Mania (General Overview)
Recycle Mania was ingeniously stumbled upon by Ed Newman (Ohio University’s recycling guru)
during his early morning “dumpster dives” wading through trash and recyclables. Ed recalls that
one of his double-flip spin-dives got the ideas rolling. It was at that moment that the thought of a
competition between Miami University and Ohio University was born. On February 4, 2001, the
first Recycle Mania competition was developed into a full-blown event with the assistance of Stacy
Edmonds (formerly Miami University’s recycling guru) who had the wisdom and energy to make
Ed’s idea become reality.
Recycle Mania 2002 is a friendly competition between the four top recycling programs in the
United States (self described). Schools will compete to see who can collect the largest amount of
recyclables from residence halls, on-campus apartments and dining halls in 10 weeks.
Measurements will be reported on a daily basis in pounds recycled per student (lbs/students)
living on-campus. The Recycle Mania event will provide students with a fun, pro-active activity in
waste-reduction. The university that recycles the most in the residence halls, on-campus
apartments and dining halls (measured in pounds per student living on-campus) wins. A Recycle
Mania trophy will be presented to the winner’s student government president and associates.
The main goal of this event is to increase student awareness in campus recycling at the
participant’s school. In the end, this event will display that all four universities have made
achievements in recycling and waste reduction!
Why is there a need for Recycle Mania?
A number of universities across the United States have successfully operated waste management
and recycling programs for more than 10 years. The four participating universities boast among
the highest recycling and waste diversion rates. Despite their recycling successes, certain oncampus facilities tend to produce most of campus waste. In particular, their residence halls and
dining halls have been the largest producers of campus waste – from 30 to 70% of campus trash.
Data from waste audits conducted at these buildings suggest that up to half of all residence hall
trash is recyclable.
Recycle Mania Overall Goals and Objective

To have a fair and friendly recycling competition

To increase recycling participation by (on-campus) students and staff

To heighten awareness of schools’ waste management and recycling programs

To expand economic opportunities while addressing environmental issues in a positive way

To lower waste generated on-campus by reducing, reusing and recycling

To organize this event successfully so it can be repeated and possibly expanded to other
campuses in the future
Miami University’s Profile
Year Recycling Program Started: 1989
Students Living On-campus: 7021 people
Number of Residence Halls: 36
Number of On-campus Apartment Buildings: 4
Number of Dining Halls: 5
Number of “ToGo” Food Areas: 18
Current Recycling Percentage for On-campus Housing: 20%-25%
Miami University’s Recycling Goals



To surpass 60% waste diversion rate (campus-wide)
To decrease materials going to the landfill by 15% over last years numbers
To increase recycling participation in residence halls, campus apartments and dining halls
Ohio University’s Profile
Year Recycling Program Started: 1990
Students Living On-campus: 7529 people
Number of Residence Halls: 41
Number of On-campus Apartment Buildings: 12
Number of Dining Halls: 5
Current Recycling Percentage for On-campus Housing: 20% - 25%
Ohio University’s Recycling Goal

To recycle 80% of campus waste with minimum disruption of day to day operations
Bowling Green University’s Profile
Year Recycling Program Started: 1986
Students Living On-campus: 5831 people
Number of Residence Halls: 8
Number of On-campus Apartment Buildings: 0
Number of Dining Halls: 4
Current Recycling Percentage for On-campus Housing: 28%
Bowling Green University’s Recycling Goal

To get closer to our internal goal of 40% recycling rate

To promote environmentally sustainable actions on the BGSU campus
Harvard University’s Profile
Year Recycling Program Started: 1990
Students Living On-campus: 8005 people
Number of Residence Halls: 40
Number of On-campus Apartment Buildings: 37
Number of Dining Halls & Food Facilities: 11
Current Recycling Percentage for On-campus Housing: 20%
Harvard University’s Recycling Goal

To raise awareness of waste management and recycling

To tap into competitive spirit to promote recycling among students

To make administrators more aware of campus recycling
Rules of Recycle Mania 2002
All four universities have agreed upon these rules and will abide by them throughout the
competition. These event rules were designed to promote a fair and honest competition. It
provides a clear understanding about the starting and stopping dates of this event. It defines the
participants, location of collections, recyclables and measurements acceptable. It defines
reporting standards for both schools. Most importantly, it defines the disposition of the
competition.
Important Dates
Contest Starting Date: February 4, 2002
Contest Stopping Date: April 12, 2002
Final Results will be announced April 17, 2002
How to play: Every student from the four participating universities is invited to take part in the
recycling contest. Schools will compete to see who can collect the largest amount of recyclables
from residence halls, on-campus apartments and dining halls in 10 weeks. Residence halls and
on-campus apartments at both schools are outfitted with recycling containers. These containers
need to be put into use to capture recyclables. All recyclables should be brought to the residence
halls’ recycling bins instead of the trash.
Acceptable Recyclables:
Paper – Includes office paper (all colors), newspaper, magazines, phone books, hard and soft
bound books, chipboard, catalogues and junk mail.
Cans & Bottles—Includes cans, bottles and jars made of glass, metal or plastic #1 & #2’s. Mostly
soda, water, juice, beer and laundry detergent bottles and cans. From the kitchens it’s mostly
plastic bottles and jars and #10 steel cans.
Cardboard—Includes baled and unbaled cardboard boxes from the kitchens and residence halls.
Measurements: All four universities are responsible and accountable for accurately measuring and
reporting their own recyclables collected from residence halls, on-campus apartments and dining
halls. Recyclables will be weighed on a daily basis using the best methods available.
Announcements will be made available during the competition to local newspapers charting weekly
measurements and weights at each school. Measurements will be reported as pounds recycled
per student (lbs/student) living on-campus.

Miami University’s housing service workers will collect all recyclables placed in the inside
residence hall recycling bins by students. They will transport all recyclables to the hall’s
lockable recycling dumpsters found outside their building. Twice a week the university’s
recycling workers will pick-up the recyclables found in lockable recycling dumpsters and
record number of bags and the volume. Recyclables are transported to the recycling
center where they are weighed on the university’s electric scale. Weights are recorded by
hall by Jim Buckley, MU’s Recycling Coordinator. Weights are calculated to show
recyclables collected in pounds per student living on-campus. According to Miami
University’s department of housing there is 7021 people living on-campus as of January 1,
2002. This number will be used to calculate pounds recycled per student.

Ohio University’s students in residence halls and apartments are expected to take their
recyclables out to the recycling storage and collection sites by the trash dumpsters located
at their buildings. Service staff will take recyclables from public areas of the residence
halls to the outside recycling areas. Dining hall service staff will recycle from their
operations. Recyclables are picked up by Athens-Hocking Recycling Center, OU’s
recycling and trash collection vender. Athens-Hocking recycling workers will weigh their
trucks at OU’s truck scales located at the heating plant prior to collecting recyclables at
residence halls, dining halls and on-campus apartments. After finishing their collection
route they will weigh their trucks again and calculate the tare weight. The weights will be
given to Ed Newman, OU’s Recycling Manager. As with Miami, weights will be calculated
to reflect pounds recycled per student living on-campus. According to OU’s department of
housing there is approximately 7529 students living on-campus as of January 1, 2002.
This number will be used to calculate pounds recycled per student.

BGSU’s students are asked to take recyclable material to the recycling stations located on
each floor of all residence halls and to the recycling stations in each dining facility. In
residence halls, recyclables will be collected by custodians and then transported to our
recycling facility for processing. Dining services staff will collect recyclables for transport to
the BG recycling facility by the BG recycling staff. After finishing their collection route they
will weigh their trucks again and calculate the tare weight. The weights will be given to
Craig Wittig, BG’s Recycling Manager. Weights will be calculated to reflect pounds
recycled per student living on-campus. According to Bowling Green’s department of
housing there is approximately 5831 people living on-campus as of January 1, 2002. This
number will be used to calculate pounds recycled per student.

Harvard University’s students will separate their recyclables and set them in designated
trash/recycling rooms in their residence halls. Custodians and student dorm crew workers
will take the recyclables to the curb on the designated pick up day. Drivers will take bag
counts to allocate the volumes generated by each building. Recyclables from some
buildings are collected directly by Save That Stuff, Harvard’s fiber recycling collection
contractor. The recyclables are then dumped at the KTI Materials Recovery Facility in
Charlestown, MA, which gives the driver a weight slip. The weights will be given to Rob
Gogan, Harvard’s Waste Manager, who will calculate pounds recycled per student living
on-campus. According to Harvard’s Undergraduate, Graduate School of Arts and
Sciences, and Law School Student Housing Offices, there are 8,005 students living in
their residence halls as of February 1, 2002. This number will be used to calculate pounds
recycled per student.
Disposition of the competition: Recycle Mania competition was created exclusively to advance
waste reduction and recycling programs at the four participating universities. This competition is
only a vehicle used to expand current programs at the four universities. It will be conducted in a
friendly, cooperative manner. Schools will not tolerate discourteous, offensive and perverse
behaviors. The goal of this event is to increase student awareness and involvement in campus
recycling through the collaboration and partnership with Miami University, Ohio University, Bowling
Green University and Harvard University. In the end, this event will show that all four programs
have won and have made achievements in recycling!
Additional Rules:

This event excludes the following activities. This event will not measure special
recycling pick-ups, building clean-outs, reusable material, recycling of scrap metal, scrap
wood, pallets, computers, appliances, electronics and other miscellaneous recyclable items
not listed under acceptable recyclable items under the rules section.

This event is only for on-campus participants. It excludes fraternities, sororities or any
other off-campus persons, groups, and organizations from bring recyclable materials to oncampus collection sites!
Announcement of Achievements and Prizes
Recycle Mania event will hopefully achieve stated recycling goals and objectives, making all
schools winners at the end of the competition.
A note to the media:
During the competition there will be two key goals:
1) The achievement of local goals set by own recycling coordinators – universities will place
first and foremost importance on whether their school met their own local goals that they set
at the beginning of the competition.
2) A secondary focus – The competition between the four universities.
Announcements will be made available during the competition to local newspapers charting weekly
measurements and weights at each school. Measurements will be reported as pounds recycled
per student (lbs/student) living on-campus.
Prizes:



Winner will receive the Recycle Mania Trophy. The trophy will be presented to the winner’s
student government!
The winner also gets a half page Ad in the other school’s newspaper (compliments of the
other university) on their achievements!
Schools will announce recycling accomplishments to the media – so everyone really wins in
the end!
Contacts:
Inquiries about the 2002 Recycle Mania event can be directed to the following contacts:
Logan Walters, Miami University’s Associate Recycling Coordinator
Phone # 513-529-7005
E-mail: loganwalters@yahoo.com
Ed Newman, Ohio University’s Recycling & Refuse Manager
Phone # 740-593-0231
E-mail: newman@mail.facilities.ohiou.edu
Craig Wittig, Bowling Green University’s Recycling & Refuse Manager
Phone # 419-372-8909
E-mail: cwittig@bgnet.bgsu.edu
Rob Gogan, Harvard University’s Recycling & Refuse Manager
Phone # 617-495-3042
E-mail: rob_gogan@harvard.edu
Happy recycling!