After competing with schools across the country for over eight weeks, the University of Oregon was able to win the RecycleMania trophy back from Oregon State University — who won last year — by taking first place in the Civil War competition.

"The RecycleMania Civil War is very competitive; OSU won last year and we are grateful for all the support that allowed us to collect so much material,” said Cimmeron Gillespie, marketing coordinator for the Campus Zero Waste Program. “The competition was so close this year it was decided by less than half a pound of material per capita."

The UO Zero Waste Program was founded by students in 1991 and began with only recycling; it has now evolved to include reuse, waste reduction, composting and zero-waste events. The program has been a regularparticipant in RecycleMania, hosting educational and reuse events across campus.

The UO was also announced as the best in the nation at recycling plastic wrap. Plastic wrap recycling made up over 1,800 pounds of total recycling collections during the 2016 RecycleMania competition.

During the RecycleMania competition, the UO recycled and composted more than 300,000 pounds of material in total. That’s an average of 11.3 pounds of recycled or composted material per person, compared to 10.9 pound at OSU.

—By Lea Adamovic, University Communications intern