Campus Race to Zero Waste 2021!

We are excited to announce that UMBC is participating in the 2021 Campus Race to Zero Waste (CR2ZW) competition. Some of you might know the competition under its former name Recyclemania. The name change better reflects the purpose of the program – to help colleges and universities find pathways toward zero waste.

Even though many of us are not physically on campus we are still generating waste. This year we want to engage and encourage everyone who is a part of the UMBC family to participate in the CR2ZW competition! 

The competition spans over an 8 week period starting January 17th and ending March 27th. We will host events, social media campaigns, and report our waste data weekly during that time. 

How does the competition work?

CR2ZW is a friendly competition and benchmarking tool for college and university recycling programs to promote waste reduction activities to their campus communities. Over an 8-week period each spring, colleges across the United States and Canada report the amount of recycling and trash collected each week and are in turn ranked in various categories based on who recycles the most on a per capita basis, as well as which schools have the best recycling rate as a percentage of total waste and which schools generate the least amount of combined trash and recycling.  With each week’s updated ranking, participating schools follow their performance against other colleges and use the results to rally their campus to reduce and recycle more.

National recognition is provided to the winning school in each category on the RecycleMania website and in a national press release. Winning schools receive an award made out of recyclable materials, and win the right to host that category’s special traveling trophy for the coming year.

How can I participate?

Social Media Campaign: Participate in our Join the Race Campaign by submitting your favorite zero waste practice at home. For more information see our myUMBC post about the challenge. #UMBCZW

Attend an event: We are working with Chartwells and UMBC’s RSA to host events around zero waste. Look out on myUMBC for our event posts for more information.

Follow-Us on Social Media: Along with our social media challenge, we will be posting weekly on Instagram throughout the whole competition. Our post will include DIY tutorials to repurpose items, information on proper waste sorting, how to conduct a waste audit, and much more. 

Follow us on Instagram @sustainableumbc