1. Definitions

2. Current Campus Programs
    Harvard  University of Colorado  University of Florida 

3. EPA involvement
    Goals  History  Categories  Results for the 2009 EPA GameDay Challenge 

4. References

Game Day Recycling is the idea that having large crowds of people in a small, concentrated space will generate great amounts of trash and products that need to be recycled. On college campuses with large stadiums, a home football game can attract up to about 110,000 people, like the University of Michigan’s stadium.^[1] However, because colleges only play a limited number of games at home each season, the recycling programs specifically for game days are usually specialized and separate from the school’s regular recycling program.

The primary reason for implementing game day recycling programs is to become a more sustainable campus. Many college campuses implement game day recycling programs to deal with the large amount of trash and recycling generated by fans. Tailgaters bring copious amounts of food and refreshments, providing the greatest amount of waste during a gameday.^[2] Inside the stadium, programs, concessions, beverages and vending machine items also contribute to huge amounts of waste.

Definitions

Current Campus Programs

Harvard

Harvard began its sustainability efforts when a panel of students and faculty began meeting in 1999 to discuss ways the campus could become more green.^[5] The Harvard Green Campus Initiative began in 2001, which led to a greater need for a more central office for the sustainability efforts. The Harvard Office for Sustainability was established in fall 2008 and now oversees the game day recycling program.

Harvard’s game day recycling program is supported by Harvard, the Office for Sustainability and the President’s office.^[6] On game days, Harvard provides **clearstream bags, recycling bins, and safety vests, gloves and “tailgate bags” for volunteers.^[6]

The Office for Sustainability recruits employees who have environmental knowledge, produced a game day recycling video and recruits volunteers for game days and other stadium events.^[6]

The President’s Office encourages all the departments to cut carbon and be green and the president attends all game days.

Harvard participated in the EPA’s Game Day Challenge in its first two years, 2009 and 2010. (see below).

University of Colorado

The University of Colorado established its recycling program in 1976.^[7] The recycling center works with many departments and student groups to accomplish its mission. It operates as a partnership between facilities management (run by the administration) and the student union.^[8]

Ralphie's Green Stampede was formed in 2008 to deal specifically with game day recycling.^[8] It is a zero waste and carbon reduction program that begun at Folsom Field during football games and now has expanded to include the Coors Events Center and all of CU’s sporting events. Its goal is to reach zero-waste at the stadium. Folsom Field provides cups and food containers made from compostable materials and has “zero-waste” stations throughout the stadium. It was the first major sports stadium in the nation to run a zero-waste process.

The CU game day recycling program’s accomplishments, which were outlined in its report to the EPA's GameDay Challenge includes having an 80-90 percent diversion, no public trashcans, about 25 attended zero-waste stations, more than 90 percent compostable or recyclable packaging and high and broad support.^[9] The program involves its vendors for large events, encouraging them to provide packaging made with eco-friendly materials, compost their food waste, use bulk condiment dispensers, instruct their employees in proper recycling practices and track and report their annual progress.^[10] Ralphie’s Green Stampede also provided equipment, signage and posters to encourage and facilitate recycling.

University of Florida

The University of Florida TailGator Green Team was established in 2006 ^[11] to manage waste at the Ben Hill Griffin Stadium during game days. It works to collect recyclable products generated by the masses of people surrounding the stadium while tailgating. The TailGator gameday recycling program relies on volunteers to operate. In its first year, it diverted over 26,500 pounds from the landfill.^[11] Since that first year, the Green Team has collected 62.34 tons of recycling, which greatly reduced the waste produced on gamedays.^[12]

EPA involvement

The EPA is a government agency whose purpose is to ensure the safety of humans and their environment.^[13] The EPA has implemented a Game Day Challenge in an effort to reduce the amount of waste accumulated during college football games.^[14] This Challenge is an initiative of the EPA’s WasteWise program. WasteWise is a free partnership program that assists its collaborators in meeting their specific goals to reduce and recycle industrial and municipal solid wastes.^[15] As part of the Game Day Challenge, colleges across the country compete to determine which university can reduce, reuse and recycle the most waste.^[14] Participating colleges and universities have the opportunity to design and implement a waste reduction program for one home football game during the month of October. The schools need to measure the results by tracking and recording data on the amount of waste generated at the football game, the number of recyclables collected and the total number of people in attendance at the game.^[16] Once numbers are reported by the schools, the EPA announces the results and winners during the month of November.^[14]

Goals

The overall purpose of the Game Day Challenge is to reduce the amount of waste produced at college football games. The program hopes to increase awareness and expand participation by students, faculty, and the entire school community in waste reduction programs in an effort to make college campuses more sustainable.^[14]

History

The Game Day Challenge began in 2009 and eight schools participated.^[17]

The eight schools that participated were:

By the 2010 challenge, the number of participating schools greatly increased. The number rose from 8 to 88 universities competing in the Game Day Challenge.^[18]

The 2010 schools are:

39. Purdue University - ICA

Categories

The EPA divided the competition into five categories and awards are presented for each category.

1) Waste Generation

2) Diversion Rate

3) Greenhouse Gas Reduction

4) Recycling

5) Organics Reduction

Results for the 2009 EPA GameDay Challenge

In 2009, more than 40,000 pounds of waste were reduced through the combined efforts of the eight schools. This is equal to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by more than 105 metric tons. This number is comparable to the amount of greenhouse emissions that are produced annually from the consumption of about 12,000 gallons of gasoline or equal to the annual emissions generated from about 4,400 propane cylinders used to fuel gas grills.^[17]

The University of Colorado placed first in the categories of Diversion Rate, Gross Green House Gas Reductions through Waste Reduction and Per Capita Composting. Ohio University ranked first in Per Capita Waste Generation. Harvard University took the first place rank in Per Capita Recycling.^[17]

The results from the 2010 Game Day Challenge will be posted on the EPA website on November 30, 2010.^[17]

References

• 1949-50 in Belgian football
• 1949-50 Indianapolis Olympians season
• 1949-50 Indiana State Sycamores men's basketball team
• 1949-50 in English football
• 1949-50 in Scottish football
• 1949-50 in Swedish football
• 1949-50 in Swiss football
• 1949-50 Israeli League
• 1949-50 La Liga
• 1949-50 League of Ireland
• 1949-50 Liga Meuhedet
• 1949-50 Luxembourg National Division
• 1949-50 Minneapolis Lakers season
• 1949-50 Montreal Canadiens season
• 1949-50 montreal canadiens season
• 1949-50 NBA season
• 1949-50 Nemzeti Bajnokság I
• 1949-50 Newport County A.F.C. season
• 1949-50 New York Knicks season
• 1949-50 New York Rangers season
• 1949-50 NHL season
• 1949-50 Northern Rugby Football League season
• 1949-50 OHA season
• 1949-50 Philadelphia Warriors season
• 1949-50 Portuguese Liga