Campus Race to Zero Waste
An annual contest each spring to reduce the University’s waste footprint
The University of Rochester joins college students and staff across the country in an annual competition to reduce the campus waste footprint through minimization efforts by donating, composting, and recycling.
About the program
Campus Race to Zero Waste—formerly known as RecycleMania—is the nation’s premier waste reduction and recycling competition among colleges and universities. The program has been helping campuses minimize waste and improve their recycling efforts since launching in 2001.
2025 Campus Race to Zero Waste
The 2025 competition kicks off on February 2 and runs for eight weeks through March 29.
This year, the competition is being held in the following categories:
- Waste diversion
- Per capita recycling
- Food organics
- Electronics recycling
View our current ranking here!
2024 Campus Race to Zero Waste results
Team Green collaborated with other student groups to promote the competition. Highlights included a kick-off event, a Valentine’s Day photo booth, a Caught Green-Handed campaign, and a recycled origami study break. Visit UR Sustainable on Facebook for photos.
The University scored the highest in the Per Capita Classic: ranking 18 out of 97, collecting 14.94 pounds per person!
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
Check out the 2024 competition results and winners.