the UW Sustainability blog
Artists reimagined their waste into dynamic artwork in UW Recycling’s 2026 Trash Art Contest. Winning pieces ranged from a messenger bag made entirely of plastic bags to a lamp constructed from abandoned boat pieces retrieved from Puget Sound.
Campus Race to Zero Waste (CRZW) is back again at the University of Washington! For the fourteenth year, the UW will participate in the friendly recycling, composting and waste reduction competition between colleges and universities.
CRZW starts runs February 1 and ends March 28, 2026. UW Recycling is organizing and promoting activities focused on waste reduction as part of the competition. Here are some events you can take part in:
UW Recycling's seventh annual UW Trash Art Contest opens February 13! Participants must create an art piece from items normally thought of as waste. This contest is open to all UW students, faculty and staff.
Categories include:
Submissions are due March 27, 2026 at 4 p.m. Pacific Time (PT). Winners for each category will receive $100 or $50 e-gift cards to a low-waste shop.
UW Recycling and two student groups are hosting a Husky Goods thrift event on March 5, 2026 from 5 - 7 p.m. in the Spratlen Hall Learning Resource Center.
This is a COMPLETELY FREE event open to all UW students on the Seattle campus.
Husky Goods Free Store may have:
UW Recycling is hosting a mending fair on February 19, 2026 from 1 - 4 p.m. in the MILL B52, located in McCarty Hall.
The event is open to all UW students on the Seattle campus. If you have a small rip in your clothing or need an item hemmed – you can get your items mended for free!
SEED & UW Recycling are hosting a Husky Goods thrift swap event on November 20, 2025 from 6 - 8 p.m in the Spratlen Hall Learning Resource Center.
The event is open to all UW students on the Seattle campus. Bring items you no longer need and swap them for something new to you - FOR FREE.
The University of Washington Seattle campus won the education & awareness category in the 2025 Campus Race to Zero Waste Case Study Competition.
As spring quarter comes to a close, the thousands of students moving out of the residence halls often have items they no longer need but are still usable. This June, a UW program made sure 59,718 pounds of those items went to local organizations and on-campus reuse groups instead of the waste stream.
The Student Clean-up, Recycle and Move-out, or SCRAM, program is designed to bridge the gap between those unwanted items and organizations looking for donations.
Campus artists utilized their own waste to create thoughtful and delightful pieces in UW Recycling’s sixth annual contest. This year’s submissions included a cat statuette made entirely from bread bag tags, a life-size bathroom display constructed by a house of students and placemats weaved from plastic newspaper bags.
UW Recycling's 2025 Trash Art Contest opens February 12! Participants must create an art piece from items normally thought of as waste or a literary piece about waste and sustainability. This contest is open to all UW students, faculty and staff.
Categories include:
Submissions are due March 28, 2025 at 4 p.m. PDT. Winners for each category will receive $100 or $50 e-gift cards to a low-waste shop or art store.