Notice

Under Construction

Thank you for your understanding while the site is being renovated. If you need help finding something, please let us know.

Contact us
Stanford
Sustainable Stanford

Waste Awards

Recent Awards

Stanford Ranked as Top School in Recycling & Composting (2024)

Since 2007, Stanford has competed in the Campus Race for Zero Waste,  a nationwide competition for colleges and universities, to reduce waste, and regularly ranks second or first. Over an eight period, waste and recycling data is compared amongst over 150 colleges and universities. In 2024, Stanford placed second in both the Per Capita Recycling and the Food Organics categories for large universities, demonstrating its commitment to waste reduction and diversion. This year the competition collectively prevented the release of 23,174 metric tons of carbon dioxide, which is equivalent to the annual emissions from over 5.500 cars.

Outstanding Waste Prevention Award

In 2023, Stanford won an award for Outstanding Waste Prevention from the California Resource Recovery Association for the innovative Cardinal Clean Program. Learn more about Cardinal Clean, and how you can use it, at the link below! 

More details

Below is a select list of Stanford’s awards for its innovative waste reduction and diversion efforts. 

  • Second Place, Per Capita Recycling (Large Campus), Campus Race to Zero Waste (2024)
  • Second Place, Food Organics (Large Campus), Campus Race to Zero Waste (2024)
  • Outstanding Waste Prevention Award for Cardinal Clean, an ozone-based green cleaning solution that reduce waste and hard chemicals, California Resource Recovery Association (CRRA) (2023)
  • First Place, Food Organics (Large Campus), Campus Race to Zero Waste (2023)
  • Second Place, Per Capita Recycling (Large Campus), Campus Race to Zero Waste (2023)
  • First Place, Per Capita Category (Large Campus), Campus Race to Zero Waste (2022)
  • Environmental Impact Achievement Award, RightCycle by Kimberly Clark (2021) 
  • First Place, Per Capita Category (Large Campus), Campus Race to Zero Waste (2021)
  • First Place, Food Organics Category, Campus Race to Zero Waste (formerly RecycleMania) (2020)
  • Outstanding School Recycling Program Award, California Resource Recovery Association (2019)
  • Honorable Mention, Education/Awareness Campaign category for the 2017 RecycleMania Case Study Competition (2017)
  • College/University Recycling Award, American Forest and Paper Association (2009)
  • Environmental Achievement Award, for the Environmental Health and Safety battery recycling and mercury thermometer replacement program, Environmental Protection Agency (2002)
  • Outstanding School Program Award, National Recycling Coalition (2002)