E.P.A. Declares 2010 Game Day Challenge Winners / Seventy-seven colleges and universities divert 500,000 pounds of waste from landfills

WASHINGTON ­- The E.P.A. today announced the 2010 Game Day Challenge winners. U.S. colleges and universities competed to reduce the most amount of waste during a home football game.

"Throwing away valuable materials, on Game Day or any other day, is literally throwing away money, in addition to the fact that it's bad for our environment," says Mathy Stanislaus, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. "Through their participation in this Challenge, these colleges and universities are showing that, win or lose, every campus can take something positive away from game day by the simple act of recycling."

During the month of October, 77 participating schools targeted in excess of 2.8 million fans at football games. The schools together diverted in excess of 500,000 pounds of waste from landfills, which prevented the release of nearly 940 metric tons of carbon dioxide. This is equivalent to the yearly greenhouse gas emissions from 179 cars.

Participating schools tracked the amount of recycled, composted, reused, donated, and disposed of waste during one home football game. Winners were determined based on the amount of waste that was diverted from the landfill in relation to the amount of generated waste and the number of people at the game.

2010 Winners:
Waste Minimization Champion: Ithaca College and University of Tennessee at Martin
Diversion Rate Champion: University of California, Davis
Greenhouse Gas Reduction Champion: University of Central Oklahoma
Recycling Champion: University of Central Oklahoma
Organics Reduction Champion: Marist College

The competition was sponsored by EPA's WasteWise program, a voluntary plan through which organizations eliminate costly municipal solid waste and select industrial wastes, benefiting their bottom line and the environment. Launched in 1994, the plan has in excess of 2,700 members.

More information on participant results: http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/partnerships/wastewise/challenge/gameday/results.htm

More information on how the results are determined:
http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/partnerships/wastewise/challenge/gameday/measure.htm

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