Entering the final weeks of the nationwide competition, U-M students, faculty and staff have collected almost 376,000 pounds of recyclables so far during RecycleMania 2012.
The current collection of total recyclables, 375,831 pounds, ranks U-M 12th out of 278 schools, and secures U-M second place among other Big Ten competitors in the Gorilla Prize category.
U-M is in the top five of the Big Ten in the remaining three participating categories: Grand Champion (recycling rate), Per Capita Recycling (pounds of recyclables per person) and Waste Minimization (total waste per person).
"The weekly participation from the campus community has been outstanding," says Alison Richardson, recycling 
coordinator with the office of Waste Reduction and Recycling. "If we can continue to reduce waste and increase recycling on campus, we may secure a top spot among the Big Ten."
At the end of week five, U-M's standings in the three other categories were:
• Grand Champion: 31.43 percent recycling rate, 96th out of 252 schools, third in the Big Ten
• Per Capita Recycling: 9.09 pounds of recyclables per person, 118th out of 307 schools, second in the Big Ten
• Waste Minimization: 19.37 pounds of total waste per person, 85th out of 167 schools, fourth in the Big Ten.
Simultaneous with RecycleMania, the office of Waste Reduction and Recycling is hosting the sixth annual Recycle Champions competition. This intra-campus competition involves 55 buildings competing to beat their 2011 recycling and waste reduction totals.
Participating buildings have collected a combined total of 457 tons of single-stream recyclables.
Both competitions will continue to measure U-M's recycling and waste-reduction levels until the close of the RecycleMania competition on March 31, 2012.