The weapons are all around you: the tin cans, the soda bottles and yes, even the milk cartons.
The contest? Recyclemania, an annual friendly competition which aims to increase recycling rates on college campuses, pits colleges and universities against each other to reduce waste. They face off in categories such as the largest volume of recyclables per capita and the least amount of trash.
The contest began on Jan. 28 and will end on April 7.
Currently in eighth place in the per-capita recyclables category, ahead of Harvard and Yale, Tufts' recycling is turning its Ivy League competitors green with envy.
According to Recycling Coordinator Dawn Quirk, one major obstacle for Tufts has been the presence of its graduate campuses in the competition.
"I think that we do really well in Medford, [but with] the other campuses, it's harder because they have much more disposable lab waste," Quirk said. "Medford is the best at recycling."
As the race wears on, Tufts Recycles' nine interns are working to promote proper recycling practices.
Junior Lauren Fisher and freshman Sara Raley, two of the nine interns under Quirk, recently made promotional videos for YouTube.com.
According to Fisher, the recycling interns have also worked as the last line of defense against setbacks.
The interns "go and monitor bins and make sure they're not vandalized," she said. "We're attaching zip-ties on to the lids so they don't get lost."
Building team spirit is also key, as interns' duties include flyering and running publicity events like dormitory hall snacks. "The more people know about it, the more they can contribute," Fisher said.
While the Tufts Environmental Consciousness Outreach (ECO) does not focus specifically on campaigns like Recyclemania, the group is a major supporter of environmental education.
"ECO is aiming to make Tufts a greener campus," sophomore and ECO member Mara Gittleman said. "This semester is a big educational push."
ECO manages educational activities year-round, including its own competition, Do It in the Dark, where dorms square off to see which can save the most energy.
Junior Jesse Gossett, another ECO member, finds the campus' recycling bins to be a daily reminder to all students.
"It's a campus where you see very little litter and we have good access to recycling," he said. "I think you find that the majority of people wouldn't even think about it without that recycling bin next to the trash bin. I think with that infrastructure it becomes a natural thing to do."
Recyclemania began in 2001 as a competition between Miami University and Ohio University. Currently, over 200 campuses are involved. The school with the highest recycling rate will receive the coveted Grand Champion Trophy.
