Coming off advances in the recycling program last semester, the University is trying to improve its recycling yields by competing in the Recycle Mania competition. The University’s recycling yields will be measured against 378 other schools weekly for the next 10 weeks. The University nearly doubled its gameday recycling efforts last semester after introducing recycling to Tiger Stadium. The pounds recycled will be divided by the population of staff and students on campus after each week. The University ranked 108th last year in the per capita competition, recycling 13.46 pounds per person. Andres Harris, solid waste and recycling manager for campus, said 108th place was a good result because the University was competing with schools that have much more funding to advance recycling efforts. The University ranked 25th in overall tonnage in last year’s competition, recycling 475,940 pounds in the 10-week period. ‘This is just a friendly competition to raise awareness about the importance of recycling and reusing resources,’ Harris said. Harris said the University recycles about 25 percent of its waste, considering reused materials like concrete and organics. The University increased its recycling output from 316 tons in 2005 to 1,311 tons in 2009, according to waste management statistics. Budget cuts have most areas of campus cutting back efforts, but Harris said campus’s recycling capabilities were not hindered by the cuts because it costs the same to remove recycling and other trash. Cas Smith, Student Government director of sustainability, said he is currently gathering data with the goal of creating a composting program for material disposed from campus dining facilities. Harris said the University is also in the process of approving a program that would automatically shut down campus computers that are not in use at night. The University’s gameday recycling program got a boost when Tiger Stadium became the last SEC football stadium to have a recycling program. Twenty-five recycling bins were placed in various concourses throughout the stadium, and cleanup crews began separating recyclable material as they cleaned the refuse left after each game. ‘We put the bins out, but we found that people didn’t use them or the garbage cans,’ Harris said. ‘The bulk of the material recycled came from the bowl [bleacher area] cleanups.’ The University recycled 17 tons after five home games. —– Contact Xerxes A. Wilson at [email protected]