Stanford Recycling Wins 1st Per Capita

Stanford University won the top award for the Per Capita category, large campus size, in the 2021 Campus Race to Zero Waste (formerly known as RecycleMania). 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 competition (February through March). This is the first time Stanford has won this category in the fifteen years it has participated in the contest. Last year, Stanford won first place in the Organics Collection category.

During the eight-week contest, we donated over 2,500 pounds of food, converted 6,700 pounds of cooking oil to biofuel, recycled over 430,000 pounds of recyclables, and sent over 325,000 pounds of food or compostable material to an animal feed facility or the compost facility. This is a real testament to our existing programs and institutional knowledge and habits of recycling, especially during COVID.

Thank you to everyone on campus who helped reduce waste and properly sorted their waste so that we have more material in the recycling and compost bins rather than in the landfill bins. If you are still confused about what goes in what bin, reach out to the Office of Sustainability. We would be happy to do a short training about what goes where!

The overall competition impact is:

• 2.9 million students, faculty, and staff were reached. 
• 230 million plastic containers were 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.