The University gained a new form of SEC competition last week — recycling.The University joined 509 other schools, including 10 other Southeastern Conference members, as part of the 2009 RecycleMania Competition, which measures schools’ recycling rates, amounts of recyclables per person and amounts of solid waste per person, according to the RecycleMania Web site.”LSU is competing in the SEC division,” said Andres Harris, Facility Services manager.  “We are in the Per Capita Classic, which measures the amount of recyclables per person, including students and staff.”The University can’t measure the amount of non-recycled trash it produces, so it can’t enter the other categories requiring this statistic, Harris said.”The company that collects our recyclables weighs the total for us,” Harris said.  “But we have no way of measuring all of the different collections of our trash throughout the week.”Harris said this competition is one more step to a cleaner campus.”Recycling is going up,” Harris said.  “The University has gone from 45 recycling bins to 71 since 2006.”A new recycling company helped this trend by allowing the University to “co-mingle” recyclables — mixed paper, aluminum, cardboard and plastic Harris said.During the first week of the competition, the University collected 57,750 pounds — 26.25 tons — of recyclables for 35,347 people, according to Harris.”Residential life helped out on this by placing bins in all of the lobbies and on every floor of the residence halls,” Harris said.Students have helped RecycleMania’s efforts through service learning projects in environmental management systems courses, according to Lina Kruth, environmental management systems senior and member of the Environmental Conservation Organization.”RecycleMania will hopefully have a significant impact on campus,” Kruth said.  “According to recyclemania.org, 80 percent of participating schools have noted an increase in recycling.”The RecycleMania Web site has not yet ranked competing schools because each school uses the first two weeks as trial runs.  “Hopefully we will use our rivalry against other SEC schools, especially Auburn, who has one of the top recycling programs, to help accelerate and increase recycling tonnage,” Kruth said.The University has not added any special collection centers in addition to the new one placed in the residence halls, according to Harris.”We are just showing our regular numbers,” Harris said.Collection continues for the next eight weeks and includes items recycled at University sporting events, Harris said.RecycleMania started in 2001, but the University entered for the first time this year, according to RecycleMania’s records.Winning universities do not receive a physical prize.  The competition intends to “increase recycling participation by students and staff” through “a fair and friendly recycling competition,” the RecycleMania Web site said.—-Contact Peter Hubbs at [email protected]