Nationwide effort recovers 89.1 million pounds of organic and recyclable materials
FORT LAUDERDALE-DAVIE, Fla. – Nova Southeastern University (NSU) placed fourth in Florida and 89 overall, among the 461 colleges and universities across the nation that competed in the annual RecycleMania Tournament, which leverages campus spirit to increase recycling and waste reduction at colleges and universities across the U.S. and Canada.
Colleges and universities competing in the eight-week competition were ranked according to how much recycling, trash and food waste they collected. Between the early-February kickoff and the tournament’s final day on March 29, participating institutions recycled or composted 89.1 million pounds of recyclables and organic materials, preventing the release of 126,597 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCO2E) into the atmosphere, which is the comparable to preventing annual emissions from 24,823 cars.
“Although the competition ran from February to March, our goal at NSU has been to set the standard for stewardship of our precious natural resources, and recycling is one of the paths to success all year long,” said Anthony Iovino, assistant director of NSU’s Physical Plant in the Office of Facilities Management. “Our Shark Recycling Team is constantly striving to identify opportunities and implement innovative programs to increase campus involvement in waste diversion. The main focus is to reduce, reuse, recycle and ultimately reach zero waste and RecycleMania is a friendly competition that allows us to bring students, staff, and faculty into our conversation efforts.”
The RecycleMania Tournament was launched in 2001 as a friendly challenge between Ohio University and Miami University in Ohio, to increase recycling on their campuses. The competition has since expanded from two schools in 2001 to 461 colleges and universities in 2014 spanning all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Canada. RecycleMania is an independent program of RecycleMania, Inc. Program management is provided by Keep America Beautiful with additional program support from the United States EPA’s WasteWise program and the College and University Recycling Coalition (CURC). For 2014, RecycleMania also partnered with National Wildlife Foundation’s Campus Ecology program and Campus Conservation National (CCN).
For complete competition details including a list of participating schools in Florida and nationwide, visit RecycleMania results.
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About Nova Southeastern University: Situated on 314 beautiful acres in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, Nova Southeastern University (NSU) is a dynamic fully accredited research institution dedicated to providing high-quality educational programs at all levels. NSU is a not-for-profit independent institution with 27,000 students. NSU awards associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s, specialist, doctoral and first-professional degrees in a wide range of fields. NSU is classified as a research university with “high research activity” by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and it is one of only 37 universities nationwide to also be awarded Carnegie’s Community Engagement Classification. For more information, please visit www.nova.edu. Celebrating 50 years of academic excellence!