Ok, recyclemaniacs, it’s that time again.

Time to pitch in — that is, to pitch in your bottles, cans and paper — to push the university ahead of its competitors in the annual national collegiate recycling contest, Recyclemania.

Beginning Monday, more than 600 schools nationwide will compete against their peers in the eight-week contest that tracks recycling and trash collection data. Institutions are ranked based on recyclables per capita, total weight of recyclables, least amount of trash per capita and highest recycling rate. The overall winner gets the Grand Champion award — and bragging rights in the world of college sustainability.

“Recyclemania is a fun way of mobilizing the Temple community to focus on recycling and reducing waste,” said Sandra McDade, director of Temple’s Office of Sustainability. “Our goal is to generate momentum that will keep sustainability issues top-of-mind year-round for students, faculty and staff.”

This is Temple’s fifth year of competition, and organizers hope to rally support to again push the university to the top of its division. Last year for the first time, Temple captured the Atlantic-10 “Gorilla” title for gross tonnage, collecting more than 403,000 pounds of recycled material — 40,000 pounds more than the next closest A-10 competitor, George Washington University. Temple’s conquest was driven in part by a one-time purge of materials from an off-campus storage facility.

Despite the absence of a similar influx this year, members of the Recyclemania committee — which comprises university administrators and members of Temple Student Government, Students for Environmental Action and Students for Responsible Business — have elected to maintain the same goal as last year.

To put Temple over the top, contest organizers are planning a slate of activities designed to nurture friendly intra-campus competition and rally the community to action.

The campaign officially kicks off at the Liacouras Center next Wednesday, Feb. 9, at the 7 p.m. men’s basketball game against Fordham University. Fans seated in the Cherry and White student cheering section will receive “Crush the Competition” t-shirts, designed — in green, of course — by Tyler senior Marie Thresher. Special promotional events will be held during time outs, and volunteer members of the Temple Green Team will circulate at half time to collect aluminum cans and plastic bottles. 

Other Recyclemania events will include:

Eligible recyclable materials that Temple collects are paper, including catalogs, books, junk mail, magazines, newspapers, phone books and all varieties of office paper; bottles and cans, including nos. 1 and 2 plastics, aluminum cans, glass bottles and jars; and cardboard, including boxes, boxboard and chipboard.

The Recylemania contest runs through April 2. Temple’s results will be reported weekly at www.temple.edu/sustainability.