UA finishes 16th in national recycling competition

UA residence halls finished near the bottom of the barrel in a recycling contest involving 17 universities that ended last week.

The UA took 16th place with 5.77 pounds of recyclables per resident, finishing ahead of Washington University in St. Louis, which averaged 3.87 pounds per resident.

Arizona State University placed just above the UA in 14th place by collecting 16.82 pounds of recyclables per resident.

During the 10-week contest, which started Feb. 2, universities across the country competed to determine who could bring in the most recyclable material including cans, bottles, paper and cardboard.

Miami University in Ohio took first place in the competition, averaging 58.28 pounds per resident.

The UA also held its own competition among residence halls.

Pima House took first in the residence hall competition with 15.84 pounds of recyclables per resident. Kaibab-Huachuca Residence Hall took second with 10.88 pounds per resident, and Gila Residence Hall took third with 9.15 pounds per resident.

Pima will be presented with an oversized check for $500 and a set of new recycle bins for the hall. There will be a ceremony at 4 p.m. Friday in Pima's lobby to present the hall with its check.

Ashley Brenden, the recycling chairwoman for the hall, said she doesn't know what the hall will do with the money.

"We will meet with the hall so that everyone involved can decide what to do with the money," she said. "We want everyone in the hall to know that the money came from our recycling efforts."

Debbie Hanson, Residence Life project and environmental coordinator, said the halls did a great job collecting materials.

"We had some halls that worked really hard collecting materials and were consistent throughout the contest," she said. "I am really proud."

ASU has recycling bins in its graduate student housing and family housing. Some of the ASU residence halls also have dining halls, which gave ASU an advantage over the UA, Hanson said.

"Take that away and we could beat them hands down," she said.

A stipulation of the contest is that every losing school must buy a half-page ad in the school paper and advertise the contest and the winner.

Hanson said she is looking at getting an ad in the Wildcat online so that it will run for a week rather than a day.

"We have to admit defeat and get the ad in there," she said.

The UA plans to participate in the contest again next year.

"I know next year we will come back and do even better, and hopefully beat ASU!" Hanson said.