UH Among the Best in State in One RecycleMania Category


RecycleMania logoThe University of Houston is among the top schools in the state when it comes to how much materials it recycles.

UH placed fifth out of 23 participating schools in Texas in this spring’s national RecycleMania competition’s gorilla category, which focuses on schools that recycle the highest combined gross tonnage of paper, cardboard, bottles and cans.

The University collected 205,340 pounds of materials. Nationally, UH came in 94th place in the gorilla category out of 308 schools. The results were announced Monday, April 13.

“It’s encouraging to know that the University has a large amount of recycling being diverted from the landfill. Hopefully, we can use the momentum from this year’s competition to improve overall waste minimization on campus and increase the percentage of recycling compared to waste,” said Sarah Kelly, program manager for the UH Office of Sustainability. “There are still items being thrown away on campus that could be recycled or reused. The biggest thing the University gained this year was engaging members on campus in waste minimization and getting people excited about the progress that we can make.”

RecycleMania is a waste reduction and recycling competition among colleges and universities across 49 U.S. states and Canada. It is managed by Keep America Beautiful, the nation’s leading nonprofit that builds and sustains clean, green and beautiful communities. This year, 394 schools participated in at least one category of the competition, which ran Feb. 1 through March 28.

Besides the gorilla category, UH competed in four other categories: waste minimization, corrugated cardboard, per capita classic and grand champion.

Complete results for all 13 categories can be found at www.recyclemania.org including a breakout that shows how schools performed by athletic conference, institution size, state, and other groupings.