The University of Wisconsin residence halls are currently participating in RecycleMania, a nationwide competition to raise awareness about the importance of recycling among college students.

One of over 460 participating schools nationwide, UW hopes to “show that we can become a leader in environmental conservation,” said Devin Trezise, the visibility chair on the Wisconsin Student Public Interest Research Group board and primary coordinator of RecycleMania at UW.

When UW first participated in the competition in 2008, it placed seventh nationwide in total recyclables collected on the entire campus.

This time around, coordinators are adopting a different focus. In an effort to make the event more student-volunteer based, UW is participating in the benchmark division of the event, which focuses specifically on increasing recycling in university dormitories instead of competing with other schools, according to Trezise.

While this prevents UW from taking part in direct competition from other schools, UW students will still be able to compare the results to other schools, as the numbers will be reported to the RecycleMania database at the end of the competition.

“This year we have a much larger student involvement ratio,” Trezise said.

He went on to say student involvement will allow students to lead the UW community in environmental reformation.

In the first six weeks, the effort has more than doubled the amount of recyclables collected in the residence halls, according to Trezise.

“Week one the numbers were about 15,000 pounds, and right now we’re on week six and the most recent result is in at 30,500 pounds,” Trezise said.

He said by the end of the 10-week competition, they hope to be bringing in close to 50,000 pounds of recyclables a week.

Trezise said RecycleMania is an important event because campus residents often throw away waste that could be recycled. He said in previous years, trash sorting has shown 50 to 57 percent of items thrown out to be recyclable.

For Melissa Flores, a RecycleMania coordinator, the event is combating a serious shortcoming of the UW community.

According to Flores, the university’s current recycling system is disorganized and irregular. She said every campus building has its own manager who decides the recycling policy for that particular building, which easily leads to irregularity and confusion for well-intentioned students.

“I heard that one of the athletic facilities was collecting one material, but then they were actually just throwing it away. They were using the recycling bins. People thought they were recycling, but it was actually all being thrown away,” Flores said.

RecycleMania is a 10-week competition founded in 2001 to increase recycling in dining halls and residence halls. It originated as a competition between Miami University and Ohio University but has since spread across the country.

RecycleMania will continue until March 28, when the final numbers for the competition will be sent to the RecycleMania headquarters.

Students interested in participating can visit tables set up in residence halls and dining halls, where more information will be available.