The Ohio State University Columbus campus joined more than 3.4 million college students and staff across the country in the 2023 Campus Race to Zero Waste competition. During the competition, Buckeyes saved more than 1.9 million pounds of materials from being buried in a landfill. These materials will now get a second chance by being transformed into new products through recycling and composting.
"As Buckeyes, we all have a responsibility in minimizing our environmental impact on campus and beyond,” said Molly Kathleen, zero waste coordinator for Facilities Operations and Development. Through simple steps like using the labeled recycling and composting bins on campus every day, we have an opportunity to make a difference.”
Ohio State’s competition highlights include:
- First place winner among all schools in the GameDay Basketball Diversion category, achieving an incredible 99.36% diversion rate in the game against Maryland on March 1, 2023, at the Schottenstein Center.
- Ohio State also achieved outstanding diversion rates at other basketball events during the 2022-2023 season:
- Men’s basketball game against Maine on Dec. 21, 2022: 97.03% diversion rate
- Men’s basketball game against Penn State on Feb. 23, 2023: 99.00% diversion rate
- Women’s basketball game against Minnesota on Feb. 8, 2023: 99.03% diversion rate
- First place winner among Big 10 schools in the Per Capita Classic competition, diverting 15.78 pounds per person.
- First place winner among large universities (30,000+ students) in the Per Capita Classic competition, diverting 15.78 pounds per person.
“Annually the Campus Race to Zero Waste competition provides key tools and opportunities that inspire, empower and mobilize colleges and universities to improve their efforts to benchmark and promote their zero waste practices,” said Stacy Wheeler, president and co-founder of the competition.
The overall competition reduced the U.S. campus waste footprint through donating, composting and recycling more than 29.4 million pounds of waste. As a result, more than 200 million single-use plastic containers were kept out of landfills and 29,108 metric equivalent of carbon dioxide tons (equal to the annual emissions of 6,128 cars) were prevented from being released into the atmosphere.
Learn more about Ohio State University’s zero waste goal. If you have questions about recycling or composting on campus, contact recycle@osu.edu