The 10-week Recyclemania contest came to an end last week after hundreds of pounds of recyclables were weighed and the results were tallied.
Villa Del Puente Residence Hall, 575 N. Highland Ave., was trailing other residence halls in previous weeks, but skirted ahead to win the campuswide competition.
Villa Del Puente coordinators collected a total of 52.48 pounds of recyclables per resident, far surpassing last year's winner Pima Residence Hall, 1340 E. First St., which received second place with 41.85 pounds of recyclable per resident.
"What brought us back to win was towards the end we had a lot of RAs, staff and residents pumping it up a lot more," said Chris Leet, the recycling chairman for Villa Del Puente. "Everyone came together and it put us on top which was really awesome."
Resident participation was a key factor in winning the event, and Leet, a business administration and management sophomore, and his committee made sure to raise awareness for students living in the hall.
"Every day I'd keep my newspaper and I'd get newspapers from my friends to recycle them," said Cathleen Bates, a communication sophomore and a Villa Del Puente resident. "It was fun because it was competitive so it gave me more of a reason to recycle because I wanted to win."
Leet received a giant check for $1,000 last night at Villa Del Puente. Leet said he would like the money to go toward a foosball table for the hall's recreation room.
In the nationwide competition Arizona State University beat the UA, but only by a hair. ASU collected 17.11 pounds of recyclables per resident and was ranked No. 29 in the national competition. UA collected 16.03 pounds of recyclables per resident and was ranked just below ASU at No. 30.
Jessica Schluederberg, Recyclemania coordinator, was disappointed with the loss to ASU.
"I feel a little bit frustrated because I feel if we did just a little bit more we would've beat them," said Shluederberg, a geography junior. "We recycled three times more than last year, but it wasn't enough."
Leet said the UA definitely has a chance of beating ASU next year.
"I was disappointed with the loss, but the potential is there for next year," Leet said.
Enthusiasm and strong participation are strong factors in the success of the Recyclemania program, something Schluederberg said she hopes will continue in future years.
"I hope the word gets spread through the community and people stay excited about Recyclemania even when I'm not here anymore," Schluederberg said.