Ecolympics 2026

Event Details

February 1st - March 28th
Two fun sustainability competitions to get you engaged in saving our one green planet!

Post your sustainable actions and tag @UofLSustainable or submit them through our online form to win the Grand Prize, or one of the fabulous weekly prize baskets!


Campus Race To Zero Waste! - February 1 - March 28, 2026
A friendly annual competition among North American universities. During this 8 week period, UofL will compete to reduce waste, increase recycling & composting, and raise conservation awareness across all three campuses! Keep up with the Cards progress at the Campus Race website.

REDUCE, REUSE & RECYCLE! Help the Cards to victory by avoiding disposables (bring your own mug, bottle, plate, etc.), donating useful stuff to the UofL Free Store instead of throwing it away, and fully utilizing UofL’s amazingly easy, single-stream recycling system that lets you recycle everything in the same bin, everywhere on campus: all types of plastic, paper, cardboard, metal, and glass! Details on what you can recycle at UofL here. COMPOST! Turn trash into treasure just by composting your food scraps and soiled paper products in the compost bins at the Garden Commons next to the Baptist Center and the Urban & Public Affairs Garden behind Bettie Johnson Hall. Request a compost caddy for your room through our online request form! If it came from a plant, we want to compost it: fruit & vegetable wastes/peels/rinds/seeds, baked goods, grains, tea bags, coffee grounds/filters, and all kinds of soiled paper products (tissues, towels, napkins, plates, cups, etc.). We are always collecting food wastes for composting from The Ville Grill, SAC Marketplace, and other campus dining locations and will be adding those numbers to UofL's organics recycling totals in the Campus Race to Zero Waste. RECYCLE E-WASTE!
Don't send your old electronics to the landfill! We will have special collection points set up in the following locations Feb. 18 - March 13:
     BAB (1st floor lobby)
     SAC W310
     Duthie Center at Speed School of Engineering (1st floor Study Area, SE corner)
     HSC Kornhauser Library (1st floor lobby behind elevators)
     >> There will also be a special Drive-up Drop-off Collection on Thursday Feb. 26th, 8am-11am on the north side of the Clinical & Translational Research Building at HSC. Due to rain, this year we will be loading items into the box truck for recycling at the CTR Loading Dock (618 E Muhammad Ali Blvd). The contact for the Drive-up Drop-off is Skip Hurley (502) 599-6228.
Stop by any time to drop off any of the following types of electronics for recycling: all computers, monitors, televisions, printers, copiers, scanners, servers, networking equipment, fax machines, telephones and cellphones, RAM/memory, hard drives, battery backups, and peripherals such as keyboards, mice, speakers, AC adapters, and mixed computer cables/wires. Separate bins will also be available for recycling of any type of batteries, lamps/bulbs, or ink/toner cartridges.

Resident Race! - February 9 - March 1, 2026
Live on campus? Win with conservation! UofL residence halls will compete among each other to see who can reduce electricity use the most over three weeks. The winning hall will earn a pizza party, sponsored by RHA! All you have to do is stop wasting energy! Turn off lights, fans, space heaters, TVs, game consoles, etc.; unplug anything you're not actively using (especially empty refrigerators); skip the elevator for the stairs; close windows tightly; wait until you have a full load to do laundry & wash with cold water; dry clothes on a rack/line; take shorter showers or shower with solar power at the SRC; etc. Keep up with the Race on UofL's Building Dashboard, where you can see how much electricity your hall is using and learn how you can conserve! Halls in the competition include:

Bettie Johnson Hall Community Park (real-time data!)  Kurz Hall (real-time data!) Louisville Hall (real-time data!) Unitas Hall (real-time data!) University Tower Apartments (UTA) Belknap Village North Belknap Village South

Prizes:

Weekly prizes: At the end of each of the eight weeks of Ecolympics, one person who has shared their sustainable action(s) will receive a themed gift basket! Grand Prize: One impressive Cardinal who takes the most sustainable actions during Ecolympics will take home our grand prize: a bicycle and helmet. Post your sustainable actions and tag @UofLSustainable or submit them through our online form throughout February & March to be entered into the competition! New winners will be picked each week! Enter as often as you can!

Ecolympics Events:

Upcycled Valentine Workshop
Tuesday, Feb. 10th, 12:30-2pm, SAC W118A T-shirt Bag Workshop
Tuesday, March 3rd, 1-2:30pm, UofL Free Store (Honors House 108)