2023 Results

The 2023 Campus Race to Zero Waste final results are in! Thank you to all of the participating colleges and universities for the hard work to minimize their campus's waste footprints! 

2023 Competition Highlights:

  • 3.4 million students, faculty and staff reached
  • 200 colleges and university participants from 40 U.S. states and Canada
  • 29.4 million pounds of waste donated, composted and recycled
  • 205 million single-use plastics kept out of the landfill
  • Participants prevented the release of 29,108 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent into the atmosphere, which is equal to avoiding the annual emissions from 6,128 cars

2023 Competition Winners:

Zero Waste Category:

  • Small campus: Macalester College, Minnesota
  • Medium: No campuses named in this category for the 2023 competition
  • Large campus: California State University, Dominguez Hills, California
    • 2nd Place: Kent State University, Ohio

Food Organics Category:

  • Small campus: Macalester College, Minnesota
    • 2nd Place: Aquinas College, Michigan
  • Medium campus: Loyola Marymount University, California
    • 2nd Place: Bowling Green State University, Ohio
  • Large campus: Stanford University, California
    • 2nd Place: American University, District of Columbia

Diversion Category:

  • Small campus: Macalester College, Minnesota
    • 2nd Place: Northeast Wisconsin Technical College
  • Medium campus: Loyola Marymount University, California
    • 2nd Place: Youngstown State University, Ohio
  • Large campus: University of Ottawa, Canada
    • 2nd Place: University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Per Capita Recycling Category:

  • Small campus: Neumann University, Pennsylvania
    • 2nd Place: Coe College, Iowa
  • Medium campus: Loyola Marymount University, California
    • 2nd Place: Wilkes University, Pennsylvania
  • Large campus: Boston College, Massachusetts
    • 2nd Place: Stanford University, California

 GameDay Basketball Category:

  • Diversion category: The Ohio State University, Ohio
  • Per Capita Recycling category: University of Southern California, California

 Race to Zero Waste – One Building Challenge Category:

  • Pennsylvania State University, Pennsylvania

Electronics Recycling Category: 

  • Per Capita Recycling category: Black Hills State University, South Dakota
  • Total Pounds Recycled category: Rutgers University, New Jersey

Communication Resources:

Thank you to our partner, Rubicon, for supporting the 2023 Campus Race to Zero Waste competition.  

2023 National Rankings



2023 Special Categories


2023 Competition Reports




2023 Carnegie Classifications

Additional 2023 Reports - Coming Soon