By This Earth Month (April), university communities across the globe joined forces to clean up their campuses and log the litter for science. The 2025 #LeaveNoTrash University Challenge, co-hosted by CitSci (an app and website for global citizen science engagement) and Leave No Trace (a nonprofit that teaches people how to take care of the outdoors), turned community cleanup information into real data for sustainability research.
A common refrain for our challenge was: “If you didn’t log it, it didn’t happen.” Every piece of trash collected and every data point submitted help build the evidence for a cleaner world.
Explore the results, below. We crunched the numbers from data contributed during April to Leave No Trash’s special University Challenge CitSci project page. As a reminder, anyone can participate in the main Leave No Trash project (whether you’re part of a university community or not!) anytime via CitSci’s app or website.
Interested in being a part of the University Challenge in 2026? Sign up on Leave No Trace’s website, and you’ll be the first to know about resources we’re developing.
📊 This Year’s Impact
From April 19–27, over 550 participants from 18 universities in the U.S. and Nigeria picked up 2,200+ gallons of trash and logged detailed data on CitSci to inform future sustainability strategies. Prizes given out will include memberships to All Trails (a resource for hiking and exploring), certificates of participation, and more.
🏆 Top Universities by Gallons Collected
- Brevard College
- Colorado State University
- Southern Illinois University – Carbondale
👥 Top Groups by Participation
- Unique Mappers of Nigeria
- Brevard College
- Colorado State University
🗑️ Most Collected Trash (U.S.):
- Food wrappers
- Plastic bottles
- Tie: Paper waste & plastic bags
🎉 Top Volunteers (4+ Cleanups):
- Jennifer K. (Brevard College)
- Kingsley A. (Unique Mappers of Nigeria)
- Laurene G. (University of Notre Dame)
- Steve S. (Arizona State University)
📍 Were trash bins present near the litter?
- Yes: 62.2%
- No: 37.8%
♻️ Were recycling bins present?
- Yes: 41.3%
- No: 58.7%
We are particularly grateful to the seven universities in Nigeria who joined us under the Unique Mappers umbrella; they brought a special and energy and passion to the challenge. Learn more about their contributions, below.
🎓 CSU Student Leadership
This year’s challenge was driven in part by students at Colorado State University, who made it their senior Environmental Science capstone project. They created toolkits, led info sessions for other universities, and compiled the global results into a GIS Story Map for their course.
👏 Thanks to Colorado State University’s Warner College of Natural Resources for celebrating their efforts:
🔗 Read the CSU blog post
✅ Want to Join in 2026?
As we mentioned previously in this blog post, whether you’re part of a university or just a passionate individual, you can participate in Leave No Trash year-round. But the University Challenge is a special time to rally your collegiate community each April and compete for impact…so what are you waiting for?!
👉 Sign up now for the 2026 challenge resources:
🔗 Leave No Trace Sign Up Form
CitSci.org Blog 