Tagged: Sustainability

Don’t let your pumpkins haunt the landfill after spooky season is over! Help next year’s pumpkins grow by composting your old jack-o’-lanterns, gourds, and cornstalks. 

Now through Tuesday, December 2, faculty, staff, and students living off-campus can drop off pumpkins, gourds, and cornstalks in the labeled roll-off dumpster in the Uniprint parking lot located at 2500 Kenny Road. The site is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 

Behind every compost bin, recycling audit and sustainability tabling event at Ohio State is a passionate team of student interns working to help make the university a leader in zero-waste practices. These interns are not only gaining hands-on experience, they’re also helping shape a more sustainable campus.

For many of the students, the internship is more than just a job.

For the third consecutive year, Ohio State Athletics has been recognized as a national leader in sustainable athletics, receiving the 2025 Play to Zero Waste Champion Award from the Green Sports Alliance.

In 2024, the Recycling and Refuse Services team helped divert more than six tons of hard cover books from the landfill through our hard cover book recycling program, thanks in large part to faculty and staff who reached out during office cleanouts.

These cleanouts provide an excellent opportunity to responsibly recycle large volumes of materials that accumulate over time. Whether you're moving offices, clearing out storage, or just doing a bit of spring, or (fall) cleaning, Ohio State’s Zero Waste team is here to help make your efforts more sustainable.

The results are in, and The Ohio State University is leading the Big Ten in recycling - and leaving that team up north in the dust.

Ohio State placed first in the Big Ten and among all Ohio colleges in the Per Capita Recycling category of the 2025 Campus Race to Zero Waste competition, with an impressive 16.9 pounds of recycling per person. This category measures how much material is diverted from landfills per person - a true team effort from the Buckeye community.

Are you preparing for an Independence Day holiday gathering? Here are a few tips to help you and your guests have an eco-friendly 4^th of July. 

The Ohio State University is taking steps to address a growing environmental issue: textile waste. From June 1 through August 1, Ohio State faculty, staff, and students will have the opportunity to responsibly dispose of their end-of-life clothing through a dedicated recycling drop-off location on campus.

The 2025 Arbor Day Celebration hosted by Chadwick Arboretum & Learning Gardens brought together students, faculty, staff and volunteers in a tribute to Ohio State’s ever-growing tree canopy and the dedicated crews behind it. 

Among the event’s highlights was the recognition of Ohio State’s Tree Campus Higher Education Certification, a prestigious designation that reflects the university’s long-standing commitment to tree care and education. 

The Ohio State University has been awarded the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 2024 Recycle Ohio Grant to support the Post-Consumer Waste Bin Transition Project at Ohio Stadium, furthering the university's commitment to sustainability. The grant enabled Ohio State to upgrade 20 waste stations in the club levels, transitioning from a two-bin (recycle/compost) system to a three-bin (trash/recycle/compost) system.

In an effort to promote sustainability and reduce plastic waste, six new water bottle refill stations have been installed across The Ohio State University Columbus campus, thanks to a grant from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The initiative, led by former university student and current Zero Waste coordinator, Logan Gould, aims to provide accessible hydration options while encouraging the use of reusable water bottles.