FAYETTEVILLE, Ark – University Housing’s residence halls finished the fourth week of the national RecycleMania Competition last week.
Students and staff recycled a total of 3,230 pounds of cardboard, cans, plastic and mixed paper during that time, according to University Housing.
Midway through the event, local competition between residence halls remains close. Walton Hall leads with 203.6 points, followed by Gladson-Ripley with 202.6 and Buchanan-Droke with 188. Maple Hill East and Walton Hall had the largest jump of week four with 108.5 points.
Duncan Avenue Apartments lost 20.5 points due to contamination. Walton Hall earned 50 extra points by posting to social media with the hashtag #UARKGreen. The rules of the competition are available on Housing’s blog, #UARKHome.
The winning residence hall will receive a phone charging station and a catered event from Tacos 4 Life Grill. Students can increase their hall’s points by sharing photos on social media using a hashtag. Residence halls lose points to contamination when trash mixes with recycled items.
“The competition works to promote a culture of sustainability on campus,” Kenneth Hamilton, Residents’ Interhall Congress Sustainability Director said. “It also teaches students who have not had any interest in the topic about easy ways in which they can help save the earth.”
RecycleMania is a national competition that pits the University of Arkansas against other universities to see who can recycle the most.
Points are collected each week when Housing staff weigh the recycled items from the residence hall. Those pounds are divided by the number of residents in the hall.
The competition runs from Feb. 7 to April 2. You can follow the weekly updates at #UARKHome.
To participate on social media, students can use the hashtags #uarkgreen and #sustainUA.