January 20, 2011 - As part of a commitment to reduce its carbon footprint, CSU Bakersfield will make its first appearance in the annual RecycleMania competition. RecycleMania is a nationwide, friendly student-led competition set to begin in February that pits colleges and universities in a contest to see who can reduce, reuse and recycle the most campus waste. It offers bragging rights and special awards made out of recycled materials to the winning schools.

During last year's 10-week competition, more than 600 campuses collectively recycled or composted over 84.5 million pounds. The 2011 installment officially runs for eight weeks between February 6 and April 2, 2011. Leading up to the main event, colleges will participate in two weeks of non-binding pre-season "Trials" that begin January 24.

CSUB President Dr. Horace Mitchell said the university is committed to taking tangible actions in four specific areas to enhance environmental sustainability.

"We have made progress in three areas; namely, our commitments to build all-new campus construction to U.S. Green Building Council's LEED Silver standard or equivalent; purchase Energy-Star certified appliances for energy efficiency; and purchase or produce at least 15 percent of our electricity from renewable sources," he said. "Our fourth commitment is to waste minimization. The university is far behind the curve in this area. That will change with our involvement in this program."

Aramark Food Services Director David Corral is a veteran to the competition and is partnering with ASi President Stephen Muchinyi to lead the charge to create a culture of recycling on campus.

An integral part of CSUB's participation in RecycleMania will be its 30 new blue and gold recycling/trash container sets located throughout campus. The receptacles are constructed from recycled materials and are designed to encourage the campus community to "think before you throw," and to consciously place waste in either the recycle or trash bins.

Throughout the combined 10 weeks, CSUB will report its recycling and trash weights and be ranked on RecycleMania's results page. With each week's reports and rankings, CSUB can watch how its program stacks up against its competitors. As results fluctuate, the campus community will make a concerted effort to reduce and recycle even more.

RecycleMania will get underway at 12:00 p.m. Monday, January 24 inside the CSUB Student Union. The kick-off event will serve to inform the campus community about the importance of CSUB doing its part to reduce, reuse and recycle, and how students, faculty and staff can get involved.

The kick-off will also be used to springboard a number of additional sustainability initiatives CSUB will be focusing on in the coming months. These initiatives include a sustainability day on February 9, when the university will "flip the switch" on its new solar panel system that will provide 25 to 30 percent of its total energy usage. CSUB will also roll out a campus-wide bike-share program called CSUB Cycles in the spring.

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About RecycleMania

RecycleMania was launched in 2001 as a friendly challenge between Ohio University and Miami University to increase recycling on their campuses. The contest has expanded rapidly in 10 years' time from two schools in 2001 to 607 colleges and universities in 2010 spanning 49 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada. Over a 10-week period, campuses compete to see which institution can collect the largest amount of recyclables per capita, the largest amount of total recyclables, the least amount of trash per capita, or have the highest recycling rate. For complete competition background and details, visit the RecycleMania website at http://recyclemaniacs.org.