ARAMARK Campus Partners Recycle Over 20 Million Pounds Of Waste During National Competition

Increase of 66 percent over prior year

Philadelphia, PA  May 11, 2009 - ARAMARK Higher Education, a world leader in providing professional services to more than 600 colleges and universities in North America, is proud to recognize its 165 campus partners that recycled over 20 million pounds of waste (paper, corrugated cardboard, bottles and cans, and food service organics) in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) WasteWise RecycleMania 2009 program, an annual recycling competition among colleges and universities nationwide.  ARAMARK-partner campuses recycled 66 percent more waste than during the 2008 competition. 

“We are extremely proud of our campus partners for their efforts during the RecycleMania 2009 competition and look forward to surpassing the 20 million pounds of waste mark in next year’s competition,” said Chris Stemen, Senior Director of Sustainability and Environmental Stewardship, ARAMARK Higher Education.  “We are delighted to see a tremendous growth in participation year after year among our clients and customers, as more students, faculty and staff become involved in the many recycling and sustainability programs on campus.”

RecycleMania 2009 is a competition among college and university recycling programs across the U.S. that provides the campus community with a proactive activity in waste reduction.  Over a 10-week period (January 18 – March 28, 2009), 513 campuses competed in different contests to see which institution could collect the largest amount of recyclables per capita, the largest amount of total recyclables, the least amount of trash per capita, or have the highest recycling rate.  This year, all participating schools in the 10- week competition recycled 69.4 million pounds of waste.

On hundreds of campuses throughout North America, ARAMARK Higher Education has implemented programs and initiatives focused on ecology, conservation and environmental stewardship to teach students the value of protecting the earth.  In 2007, the Company received the EPA WasteWise Endorser of the Year Award for its support and promotion of RecycleMania.  The award recognizes organizations for extraordinary efforts to reduce waste. 

RecycleMania is supported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s WasteWise program and the National Recycling Coalition (NRC), and is coordinated as a project of NRC’s College and University Recycling Council (CURC).

About ARAMARK
ARAMARK is a leader in professional services, providing award-winning food services, facilities management, and uniform and career apparel to health care institutions, universities and school districts, stadiums and arenas, and businesses around the world. In FORTUNE magazine's 2009 list of "World's Most Admired Companies," ARAMARK was ranked number one in its industry, consistently ranking since 1998 as one of the top three most admired companies in its industry as evaluated by peers and analysts. ARAMARK seeks to responsibly address issues that matter to its clients, customers, employees and communities by focusing on employee advocacy, environmental stewardship, health and wellness, and community involvement. Headquartered in Philadelphia, ARAMARK has approximately 260,000 employees serving clients in 22 countries.

Contacts:
Dave Gargione
215-238-3559
gargione-david@aramark.com

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