More than 200 colleges and universities reduced their waste through waste minimization efforts, recycling, donation, composting, and education and awareness campaigns during this spring’s Campus Race to Zero Waste (formerly RecycleMania) competition. Due to COVID-19 pandemic closings and increased online learning, many campuses were unable to reach the success levels accomplished in past years, however, despite these difficult circumstances, this year’s tournament had a tremendous impact!
The overall competition impact is:
- 2.9 million students, faculty and staff reached
- 230 million plastic containers kept out of the landfill
- Campuses prevented the release of 30,669 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCO2E) into the atmosphere, equivalent to preventing annual emissions from 6,463 cars.
- 25.9 million pounds of waste was donated, composted and recycled
Starting this year, the Campus Race to Zero Waste is recognizing three campuses per main category (Diversion, Per Capita, Food Organics and Zero Waste) based on the Carnegie Classification of size – small/very small, medium and large. This helps level the playing field for all campuses. This year, winners will also receive electronic badges in order to reduce the waste created by manufacturing and mailing a physical award; badges will be sent via email on Monday to all campus winners.
Winners of the competition categories are:
Zero Waste category:
- Kent State University at Kent, Ohio (*only one campus was awarded in this category because all participating campuses were large campuses.)
Food Organics category:
- Small campus – Macalester College, Minnesota
- Medium campus – University of North Carolina Asheville, North Carolina
- Large campus – University of California Irvine, California
Diversion category:
- Small campus – Macalester College, Minnesota
- Medium campus – Seattle University, Washington
- Large campus – Towson University, Maryland
Per Capita category:
- Small campus – Rhode Island School of Design, Rhode Island
- Medium campus – Wilkes University, Pennsylvania
- Large campus – Stanford University, California
Race to Zero Waste – One Building challenge:
- Aquinas College, Michigan
Electronics challenge:
- Per Capita category – Southwestern College, Kansas
- Total Pounds Recycled category – Kent State University at Kent, Ohio
Summary of the University of Rochester’s Scores:
- Diversion Category – Ranked 85 out of 103, with a Waste Diversion Rate of 19.5%
- Per Capita Classic – Ranked 50 out of 128, collecting 10.1 pounds per person
- Organics – Ranked 23 out of 103, collecting 65 total points
Congratulations to Universities and Colleges on completing “Campus Race to Zero Waste”! Should organize more races like this. Because thanks to this race, the amount of waste is greatly reduced!