Kent State participated in the annual football Game-Day Recycling Challenge for the first time on Oct. 26 in a home game against the University at Buffalo. The competition promotes waste reduction at college and university football games and awards participants with the best results.
“This competition gives us the opportunity to get people thinking about recycling,” says Melanie Knowles, sustainability manager. “We can get people excited about recycling and wanting to take part in the competition.”
Volunteers contributed 151 hours to the event and were responsible for picking up recyclables off the ground, talking to fans about the project and carrying recycling bags. Volunteers included student members from the Sports Administration Department, members of Sigma Tau Gamma fraternity, the Kent State baseball team and student volunteers.
“The volunteers were very enthusiastic,” says Leah Graham, outreach and recycling coordinator at Kent State. “Some of them interacted with fans at the game, which got people interested and asking about the competition. The volunteers helped increase awareness of recycling efforts, which was nice to see.”
Football game attendance was at 14,197, and 1,485 pounds total were recycled, leading to a .143 pound per capita recycling rate. The amount of greenhouse gases avoided from recycling is comparable to taking one car off the road for six months.
The competition is organized by the College and University Recycling Coalition (CURC), RecycleMania and Keep America Beautiful (KAP) and supported by EPA’s WasteWise program. Results and winners were posted on Nov. 15, America Recycles Day.
Knowles says Kent State plans to participate in next year’s Game Day Recycling Challenge.
“Since this was our first time competing, we learned a lot,” says Knowles. “Next year, it’ll be easier to prepare, and there are a lot of things we will improve upon. We would like to get some composting going at games next year as well.”
For more information about Kent State’s participation in the 2013 Game-Day Recycling Challenge, contact Graham at lgraha13@kent.edu or Knowles at mknowle1@kent.edu.