UofL wins 2024 Campus Race to Zero Waste
Thanks to the passionate efforts of students, faculty, and staff who took green actions throughout Ecolympics 2024, and to the diligent efforts of our Physical Plant team and off-campus partners, the University of Louisville took top prize for Diversion among large universities in the 2024 Campus Race to Zero Waste! UofL achieved an overall landfill diversion rate of 60.6% over the eight-week competition from January 28 – March 23.
The UofL community joined more than 2.7 million college students and staff across the country in a competition to reduce the campus waste footprint through minimization efforts by donating, composting, and recycling more than 30.7 million pounds of waste. As a result, collectively, we have kept more than 105 million single-use plastic containers out of landfills and prevented the release of 23,174 metric tons equivalent of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, equal to avoiding the annual emissions from 5,515 cars.
The University of Louisville demonstrated prowess in each of the categories of competition:
- In the Diversion category, UofL finished #1 for large campuses, top in KY, and 4th out of 81 schools with a diversion rate of 60.567%.
- In the Food Waste organics category, UofL finished top in KY and 32nd out of 84 schools with 60.00 points.
- In the Per Capita Classic, UofL finished top in KY and 48th out of 97 schools with a recycling rate of 7.827 lbs/person.
- In the E-waste category, UofL finished 14th out of 19 schools by collecting 4280 lbs. of e-waste for recycling (or 0.17 lbs/person)
- In terms of Waste Minimization, UofL finished 35th out of 109 schools with 20.8 lbs/person of total waste generated.
A total of 81 other schools participated in the Diversion category, including Kentucky's own EKU (63rd with 19.8% diversion) and Centre College (81st with 6.4% diversion). The final top 10 standings in the Diversion category were:
| School | Rank | Diversion Rate (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Macalester College | 1 | 72.443 |
| Seattle University | 2 | 62.570 |
| Kendall College of Art and Design | 3 | 61.593 |
| University of Louisville | 4 | 60.567 |
| Loyola Marymount University | 5 | 59.678 |
| Berkshire Community College | 6 | 59.234 |
| Amherst College | 7 | 59.106 |
| Aquinas College | 8 | 57.809 |
| The University of Maryland - College Park | 9 | 56.825 |
| Mt. San Antonio College | 10 | 56.277 |
While this achievement is a team effort, UofL would like to especially recognize all of the students, faculty, and staff who took action for sustainability during Ecolympics 2024 , including our Grand Prize winner, professor of Fine Art, Rachel Singel. We urge everyone to keep up the great work on campus to reduce, reuse, recycle, and compost. All those who wish to support UofL's sustainability and engagement efforts can donate to support the Green Fund for UofL.
Here are the official final results:
Congratulations to all 2024 Campus Race to Zero Waste participants!
2024 Competition Highlights:
- 2.7 million students, faculty and staff reached
- 150+ college and university participants from 39 U.S. states and Canada
- 30.7 million pounds of waste donated, composted and recycled
- 105 million single-use plastics kept out of the landfill
- Participants prevented the release of 23,174 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent into the atmosphere, which is equal to avoiding the annual emissions from 5,515 cars
2024 Winners:
Diversion Category
- Small campus: Macalester College, Minnesota
- 2nd place: Kendall College of Art and Design, Michigan
- Medium campus: Seattle University, Washington
- 2nd place: Loyola Marymount University, California
- Large campus: University of Louisville, Kentucky
- 2nd place: University of Maryland College Park
Food Organics Category
- Small campus: Aquinas College, Michigan
- 2nd place: Bard College, New York
- Medium campus: Loyola Marymount University, California
- 2nd place: Endicott College, Massachusetts
- Large campus: Kent State University, Ohio
- 2nd place: Stanford University, California
Per Capita Recycling Category
- Small campus: Neumann University, Pennsylvania
- 2nd place: Coe College, Iowa
- Medium campus: Loyola Marymount University, California
- 2nd place: SUNY Purchase College, New York
- Honorable Mention: United States Military Academy West Point
- Large campus: Boston College, Massachusetts
- 2nd place: Stanford University, California
Zero Waste Category
- Large campus: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
*No small or medium campuses named in this category for the 2024 competition.
GameDay Basketball Category
- Diversion: University of Richmond, Virginia
- Per Capita Recycling: University of the Incarnate Word, Texas
Race to Zero Waste – One Building Challenge
- Pennsylvania State University
Clean-up Category
- Drexel University, Pennsylvania
Electronics Recycling Category
- Per Capita Recycling: Northwest Missouri State University
- Total Pounds Recycled: Rutgers University, New Jersey
Green Events Category
- Agnes Scott College, Georgia and University of Massachusetts Amherst (under 50 attendees)
- University of Michigan Dearborn and Villanova University, Pennsylvania (under 100 attendees)
- Southern Illinois University Carbondale and University of South Carolina Upstate (under 500 attendees)
- Iowa State University (under 1,000 attendees)
- Coastal Carolina University, South Carolina and University of California, Irvine (more than 1,000 attendees)
