Harvard

History

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.^[3] The "Harvard Green Campus Initiative" began in 2001, which led to a greater need for a more central office for sustainability efforts. The Harvard Office for Sustainability was established in the fall of 2008 and now oversees the game day recycling program.

Program

Harvard’s game day recycling program is supported by Harvard, the Office for Sustainability, and the President’s office.^[4] On game days, Harvard provides "clearstream" bags,^[5] recycling bins, safety vests, gloves and “tailgate bags” for volunteers.^[4]

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.^[4] 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

History

The University of Colorado established its recycling program in 1976.^[6] 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.^[7]

Ralphie's Green Stampede^[8] was formed in 2008 to deal specifically with game day recycling.^[7] It is a zero waste and carbon reduction program that began at Folsom Field Archived 2010-10-20 at the Wayback Machine 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.

Program

The CU game day recycling program’s accomplishments, which were outlined in its report to the EPA's GameDay Challenge include 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 trash, which greatly reduced the waste produced on gamedays.^[12] Along with managing waste, the TailGator Green Team works to educate students on the proper ways of recycling. The team works in areas with high student concentrations based on where tailgates and other gameday events are occurring to tell individuals how and what to recycle.^[13]

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.^[15]

History

The Game Day Challenge began in 2009 and eight schools participated.^[19]

The eight schools that participated were:

1. Auburn University
2. Brigham Young University
3. Harvard University
4. North Carolina State University
5. Ohio University
6. University of Colorado
7. University of Michigan
8. West Virginia University

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.^[20]

The 2010 schools are:

Categories

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

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.^[19]

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.^[19]

The results from the 2010 Game Day Challenge will be posted on the EPA website on November 30, 2010.^[19]