This annual challenge for higher education institutions engages students, faculty and staff in advancing zero waste ethics. This year, the competition’s duration was shortened from eight to five weeks in response to widespread closures due to COVID-19. From Feb. 2 through March 7, schools reported on their zero waste efforts in multiple categories.

In the Diversion category, UofL placed first in the state, first in the Atlantic Coast Conference and 10th in the nation for keeping more than 63% of its waste (including organics, plastic, paper, cardboard, metal and glass) out of the landfill.

Full results of the competition can be seen .

In the Food Organics category, UofL again placed first in the state and 33rd in the nation for composting. In the Per Capita Classic category, UofL placed second in the state and 83rd in the nation for recycling 6.691 pounds per person.

In the Waste Minimization category, UofL placed third in the state and 53rd in the nation for reducing total waste production to 26.46 pounds per person. And in the Total Recycling category, UofL placed second in the state and 38th in the nation by recycling 334,020 pounds of paper, cardboard, plastic, metal and glass and composting 86,315 pounds of food and kitchen waste from dining services for a total of 420,335 pounds.

Justin Mog, assistant to the provost for sustainability initiatives, is encouraged by these results and connected them back to .

“All these efforts to keep waste out of the landfill equate to reducing our carbon emissions by 614 metric tons of CO₂ equivalent,” he said. “According to the EPA, that’s as impactful as taking 133 cars off the road for a year, powering 104 homes with renewables for a year, switching 23,326 incandescent lamps to LEDs, or growing 10,153 tree seedlings for 10 years.”

As a member of the Climate Leadership Network for colleges and universities, UofL is committed to reducing campus net greenhouse gas emissions and achieving climate neutrality by 2050. In 2010, UofL released its , a comprehensive roadmap for reducing university emissions to net zero. The plan is shepherded by UofL’s Sustainability Council, a group of more than 60 faculty, staff and students appointed by the provost that coordinate the plan’s implementation and conduct an annual reporting of UofL’s greenhouse gas emissions. 

News arrived this spring that UofL was ranked highest in Kentucky in a key sustainability measure, the international Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS).

“UofL’s unwavering commitment to the health of our planet is another reason to be proud of this institution, but this is not the time to remain idle,” said Neeli Bendapudi, UofL president. “We will and we must continue this hard work to ensure a bright future. I am so proud of our faculty, staff and students who are devoted to this issue for the university and in their daily lives.”

STARS, part of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher łÉČËÖ±˛Ą (AASHE), relies on institutions to report the steps they are taking regarding environmental, social and economic stewardship. Schools’ ratings are valid for three years, and the total points they earn result in awards that range from platinum (highest) to bronze.

UofL scored for 2019, a 1% increase since UofL’s last STARS rating in 2016 and the highest rating for any college or university in Kentucky. The score also notched UofL’s second consecutive gold award. UofL ranks fourth among ACC schools with a STARS rating.

“This is the fourth STARS report we have submitted since 2011 and we continue to increase our score each time,” said Justin Mog, assistant to the provost for sustainability initiatives. “Our new score puts UofL in the top 100 most sustainable schools on the planet. We can attribute this progress to the ongoing commitment of our university’s administration, faculty, staff and students to this increasingly important issue.”

Among the efforts that helped push UofL to the top were the new, the and our annual maple-tapping project on campus.

Recycling still a priority

With a gold STARS rating on our side, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that recycling remains a priority at UofL.

Our participation in the North American RecycleMania competition in February and March resulted in a No. 1 ranking in Kentucky in two categories: diversion and per capita. We recycled 57.6% of our trash overall for the eight-week period, or 16.8 pounds per person.

Additionally, the Sustainability Council recently issued UofL’s , showing UofL last year recycled or composted more than 6.5 million pounds of waste, or slightly more than half our total waste.

UofL’s , begun in 2010 and run by philosophy lecturer Brian Barnes, will expand this fall with the addition of a student intern to manage worm composting operations. 

Besides the benefit of reducing plastic waste — Americans used an estimated 50 billion plastic water bottles last year — the fountains also reward users with totally free, cold, award-winning Louisville Water Company tap water.

The #backtothetap partnership continues this fall with the opening of the new Belknap Academic Building and its chilled tap water filling stations on every floor. Louisville Water Company representatives have also been on campus giving out free water during campus Move-in Day and other events. The Louisville Water Company even offers guest lecturers who teach real-world lessons about the crossroads of science and public health.

“With almost a fifth of the incoming first-year class coming from out-of-state, this is a great time to share the news that Louisville has some of the best-tasting, highest-quality tap water in the country,” said UofL President Neeli Bendapudi. “UofL is also committed to reducing waste of all kinds, and we encourage students, staff, faculty and visitors to come to campus with reusable bottles and fill them up at our filling stations. It’s the very definition of a win-win.”

Bendapudi recently tweeted a photo of herself with Louisville Water’s president, Spencer Bruce, and senior utility consultant, Vince Guenther.

The partnership grew out of a conversation several years ago between Kelley Dearing Smith, vice president of communications and marketing for the water company, and Justin Mog, UofL’s assistant to the provost for sustainability initiatives.

Students at the time were urging the university to ban bottled water or add a fee to cover the costs of recycling the plastic bottles. Instead, an educational campaign on the value of water and the high quality of Louisville’s tap water was born.

“Louisvillians are quite the water connoisseurs – we love the taste of our water,” Dearing Smith said. “Students coming to UofL from other cities, states and countries may not understand that affection – or may be hesitant to drink tap water. We began the campaign in 2015 with education and messaging and that continues today.”

Louisville’s water was named “The Best Tasting Tap Water in the Country” by the American Water Works Association in 2008 and the People’s Choice for “Best Tasting Water” in 2013, according to the water company’s website.

UofL is one of 50 partners that Louisville Water works with, placing signs above drinking water and fountains and filling stations around the city. Signs were placed recently in the newly renovated Kentucky International Convention Center, where 13 banks of water fountains with bottle filling stations were installed, and will be added to new fountains at Louisville International Airport in the coming months.

Louisville Water Company representatives are available to professors or even campus clubs to teach about the value of #backtothetap.

“I’ve worked with professors on topics ranging from the global and political issues on water, the difference between bottled water and tap water and the history/architecture of Louisville Water,” Dearing Smith said. “For those on campus who’d like to do more than drink the water, they can reach out to Louisville Water for a guest speaker, requests products like coolers and cups for an event or work with us on a special event.”

Dearing Smith added that, as the parent of a college student, she is aware of this generation’s “sincere appreciation for doing something that matters. I’m hopeful that this will be the generation that really gets #backtothetap. Many of these students grew up with parents who rushed into a large-box store to grab cases of bottled water for lunches, sports and school events. There will always be a time for bottled water – emergencies and national disasters – but we’re incredibly lucky to live in a community with some of the highest-quality and best-tasting tap water.”

Check out LouisvilleWater.com for more information and guest lecture opportunities. 

“I am super pumped,” said Bruce Dougherty, who will graduate in May with his master’s degree in SPAD. “When Dr. (Megan) Shreffler emailed us about possibly going to the Super Bowl, I had to read the email like three times because I didn’t think it was real.”

Shreffler, an assistant professor in the department of health and sport sciences, said she wanted to see if there was any chance her students could be a part of the Super Bowl and in December contacted a colleague at the University of Minnesota, where Shreffler received her PhD in kinesiology in 2013. There were opportunities available, but she was just days from the application deadline for the PepsiCo gig.

Shreffler spent the next few days frantically emailing students, compiling applications and figuring out transportation and housing. “The whole week was a whirlwind,” she said.

In the end, she pulled together a group of three professors (including herself), eight master’s degree students, three undergraduate students and a doctoral student for the Super Bowl trip, a first for the SPAD program.

“Within the SPAD program, we really try to show students what class concepts look like in real-life settings,” Shreffler said, and the Super Bowl is about as real-life as you get for major sporting events.

The Super Bowl trip will give students a view from the “event manager perspective, everything that goes into an event and working a game day, but will also provide a glimpse into corporate social responsibility as students will serve as green ambassadors,” she said.

PepsiCo will have the team working a 12-hour shift encouraging fans to separate trash from items that can be recycled or composted. Team members will also act as “goodwill ambassadors” for fans throughout the day by helping them take selfies, guiding them around the stadium or helping them seek medical or security assistance. They will also get paid an hourly wage.

“We will get to learn more about recycling and green initiatives with sport,” Dougherty said. “I think that’s really important. In the future, green initiatives in facilities and operations are going to be really big.”

According to a , partners the NFL, PepsiCo, Aramark, U.S. Bank Stadium and the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority have a goal to recover more than 90 percent of stadium waste at Super Bowl LII. That’s more than 40 tons of waste, and it includes recycling bottles and cans, composting food waste and service ware and repurposing items like discarded handbags, signage and construction materials through local community organizations.

Shreffler said she hopes to be able to take SPAD students to more major sporting events in the future.

“I think it’s a great program” said UofL fan Ashley Davenport. “It helps spread the message that a little bit goes a long way. There’s a lot in our landfill so every little bit counts… I’m glad it’s making it easy for us.”

Check out more about the program below: