New Mexico State University took fifth place in the Grand Champion category of the 2011 RecycleMania Tournament. A total of 630 colleges and universities participated in the 11th annual competition, an eight-week challenge that encourages campuses to step up recycling efforts.

NMSU’s performance was nothing new – this was the fourth consecutive year the university’s Las Cruces campus competed in the event, and each year it has finished in the top 10.

This year, 91 million pounds of recyclables and organic materials were recovered nationwide, preventing the release of nearly 270 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. This reduction in greenhouse gases equals annual emissions from more than 52.8 million passenger cars; electricity use of more than 32.7 million homes; or the burning of nearly 1.5 million railcars’ worth of coal.

“NMSU does a great job at recycling and reusing, but we must not forget the other ‘R’ – reducing,” says joni newcomer, New Mexico State’s manager of environmental policy and sustainability, who prefers her name be lowercased. “A current goal of the Office of Sustainability is focusing on reducing the amount of waste on campus.”

NMSU collected more than 19 pounds of cumulative recyclables per member of the campus population this year, for a total of 351,950 pounds recycled. The university ranked 42nd in the Waste Minimization competition, wherein schools competed to see which produced the least amount of municipal solid waste (including both recyclables and trash) per person. NMSU weighed in at more than 28 pounds of cumulative waste per person.

“Some of the things we’re doing is printing double-sided when possible, and using reusable to-go containers at Taos Restaurant, as well as encouraging the use of reusable water bottles,” newcomer says. “We’re accomplishing this through sustainability education and changing behaviors of faculty, staff and students.”

For more information, visit the RecycleMania website at http://recyclemaniacs.org.