It is as simple as putting the glass bottle into the blue trashcan instead of the brown.

Recycling is one of the simplest things you can do to clean up the environment, according to recycling-guide.org.

To get students and faculty to recycle, the university is participating in the nationwide recycling competition, RecycleMania.

According to recyclemaniacs.org, UW-Whitewater will be one of 630 colleges and universities competing in the eight-week tournament, and one of 17 Wisconsin schools.

This will be UW-Whitewater’s third year participating. In 2009, UW-Whitewater ranked 82 out of 206 in its division, with a recycling rate of 28.7 percent. In 2010, the university ranked 101 out of 267 schools, with a recycling rate of 29.14 percent.

Getting students involved and excited about recycling is sometimes the hardest part of the challenge. In the past, several campus departments and organizations became involved in planning events to raise recycling awareness.

Sustainability Coordinator Wesley Enterline said he has seen pockets of excitement about RecycleMania on campus, but it is not to the point where everyone is involved on a broader scale.

Enterline said the first year UW-Whitewater participated, the university held a pledge drive. Students, faculty and staff lined up to sign a banner pledging to recycle during the competition.

To boost recycling in residence halls, Residence Life also started an on-campus competition. Recycling is collected and weighed each week, and the complex that has the most recycling per person wins a prize for the whole complex.

Enterline said UW-Whitewater is lucky to work with John’s Disposal. The company takes care of all the measuring and monitoring of dumpsters for the competition.

“They will take anything. John’s goes out of the way to try and recycle. If they cannot recycle something, at least they make an attempt,” he said.

Acceptable materials to recycle are paper (printer, notebooks and folders), flattened cardboard boxes, newspapers, magazines, paperback books, junk mail, shredded paper, plastic containers, glass containers and aluminum cans.

Items you cannot recycle include any container that has a food product in it, plastic films, plastic bags, broken glass, Styrofoam and any hazardous materials.

Enterline said the campus always sees an improvement in recycling during the two-month competition, but would like the number to level off and remain steady for the whole academic year.

The competition began Feb. 6 and will run until April 2. Enterline said there is no limit to what you can do, it is just a matter of using your imagination.

“When you’re on campus, just do your best to recycle,” Enterline said. “Be involved individually.”