A recycling competition has ignited civil war between the University of Oregon and Oregon State University once again.

The 10-week “RecycleMania” tournament is a recycling challenge that universities throughout the U.S. participate in each year. To inspire greater motivation, OSU and UO coordinators instigated a RecycleMania civil war in 2010.

UO’s zero waste management coordinator Robyn Hathcock told the Daily Emerald, “The UO and OSU are really well matched, so it definitely makes the contest interesting each year.”

KVAL reported that Andrea Norris of the OSU's campus recycling program believes the civil war aspect motivates students to do something positive. Each campus attempts to log the most pounds of recycling and compost per person over the 10-week period. Norris says paper recycling alone accounts for thousands and thousands of pounds.

UO’s zero waste management program promotes composting, recycling and reusing, all of which are components of the RecycleMania challenge.

The UO held an early lead with 9.5 pounds per person to OSU’s 8.9 pounds per person. The RecycleMania webpage reports that the UO has saved 308 metric tons of CO2 equivalent.

“We feel good about it,” says Hathcock, “We’ll see how it ends up at the end.”

- by Chloe Huckins, UO Office of Public Affairs Communications intern