var so = new SWFObject(‘http://www.staterinteractive.com/player.swf’,’mpl’,’665′,’450′,’9′);

so.addParam(‘allowscriptaccess’,’always’);

so.addParam(‘allowfullscreen’,’true’);

so.addParam(‘flashvars’,’&file=030812_RecycleMania_PKG.flv&image=http://www.staterinteractive.com/photos/spring11/0131tv2.jpg&frontcolor=6666FF&lightcolor=EEEEEE&skin=http://www.staterinteractive.com/snel.swf&streamer=rtmp://flashmedia.kent.edu/fms-jmc/tv2′);

so.write(‘tv2news’);

March Madness might not be getting underway until next week, but Recycle Mania is well underway here at Kent State.

The eight-week recycling competition places the university in three different contests.

All of Kent’s residence halls participate in the contest, encouraging students to recycle.

There’s also a regional competition between Kent State and rival University of Akron, as well as a national contest among over three hundred colleges.

Freshman Breanna Fitzpatrick learned about RecycleMania from the posters. She finds it easy to participate as an on-campus resident.

“When you go to the trash room, there’s a really big poster – recycle this and recycle this,” Fitzpatrick said. “That’s easy.”

The three-week score released Monday puts Kent State at 179 of 336 schools. That’s people recycling an average of nearly three pounds of materials.

The number beats out the University of Akron, which recycled just over two and one-half pounds.

On-campus, Engleman Hall leads the contest with about nine and six-tenth pounds of recycled materials.

Beall, McDowell, and Van Campen Halls rank second with an average of seven and one-third pounds.

Centennial C and D comes in third, recycling nearly seven and one-half pounds.

No matter where Fitzpatrick’s residence hall places in the contest, she plans to continue recycling, even at home.

“At home, it’s really important because we get really small garbage cans, so we have to recycle stuff,” Fitzpatrick said. “We’re not as picky about it as Kent is.”

RecycleMania started February 5 and runs until March 31.

Right now, the competition is halfway complete, but it’s never too late to start recycling.

The average person produces about four and one-half pounds of trash daily, while about 75 percent of the waste can be recycled. People only recycle 30 percent of trash.

Contact Doug Rogers at [email protected].