Campus Race to Zero Waste 2024

SU joined over 80 colleges and universities 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.

SU 2024 Highlights: We Continue to be a Leader in Waste-Reduction Efforts!

• SU ranked 2nd nationally in the diversion from landfill category of the competition with a 62.57% diversion rate.
• SU ranked 1st in the medium sized campus division of the diversion category of the competition.
• SU recycled and composted 131,544 pounds of waste throughout the 8 weeks of the competition.
• Reduced our cumulative greenhouse gas emissions by 158 metric tons of CO2—which is the same as keeping 31 cars off the road or the energy consumed by 14 households.

What is Campus Race to Zero Waste?

Campus Race to Zero Waste (formerly Recyclemania) is an eight-week recycling competition that happened January 29–March 25, 2024 between colleges and universities across North America. Colleges and universities competed to see how well they are doing in their waste reduction efforts and gauge how they compare to other institutions!

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