<p>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Kim Court, Public Affairs February 6, 2009 (315) 498-2054</p><p>Who Will Win RecycleMania 2009? Onondaga Community College Ranked 7th In First Week of Ten-Week Nationwide Campus Challenge</p><p>SYRACUSE, NY – During the first trial week of the national competition, RecycleMania, Onondaga Community College reported 5950 lbs of trash, 2460 pounds of cardboard, 1640 pounds of paper, and 570 pounds of commingled collected on campus – ranking the College seventh in the nation in the Waste Minimization division among the more than 500 participating colleges and universities.</p><p>RecycleMania is a ten-week national event that involves colleges and universities in a competition to promote waste reduction by reporting recycling and trash data on their campus. The information is then used to rank schools by the largest amount of recyclables per capita, the largest amount of total recyclables, the least amount of trash per capita, or the highest recycling rate. </p><p>The College has implemented several initiatives on campus to move toward the institutional goal of climate neutrality including: the installation of Flexi-Pave to collect rain water and melted snow run-off; two compost bins led by the student- run Whole Earth Club; a carry-in / carry-out policy in classrooms; and a transition to Web-based publications versus printed recruitment tools. </p><p>For updated online ranking information, go to www.sunyocc.edu or www.RecycleMania.org. </p><p>RecycleMania is endorsed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s WasteWise program, the National Recycling Coalition’s College and University Recycling Council (CURC), and the National Wildlife Federation’s Campus Ecology Program.</p><p>With more than 11,000 students, Onondaga Community College is the second- largest undergraduate institution in Central New York and was named one of the fastest-growing community colleges in the country by Community College Week. Founded in 1961, it is a comprehensive two-year college operating under the State University of New York (SUNY) and is locally sponsored by Onondaga County. Onondaga offers nearly 50 programs of study, bachelor and master’s degrees available on campus through a partnership with Keuka College, and more than 80 other transfer agreements with four-year colleges and universities. Home to the 2008 NJCAA national champion men’s tennis team and the 2006 and 2007 NJCAA national champion men’s lacrosse team, Onondaga has nine intercollegiate men’s and women’s athletic teams. </p><p>- 30 -</p>