Colleges and Universities Compete to Reduce Game-Day Stadium Waste

WASHINGTON, Oct. 5, 2015 /3BL Media/ – From now until the end of November, college football is scoring big by tackling stadium and tailgating waste through the national GameDay Recycling Challenge, where teams and their fans compete to see who can reduce and recycle the most GameDay items, such as glass bottles and food packaging waste.

Colleges and universities are invited to accept the 2015 Challenge by registering online by Oct. 15.  Teams representing the top athletic conferences have already joined the 2015 GameDay Recycling Challenge.

The GameDay Recycling Challenge is a national program administered by Keep America Beautiful in partnership with the College and University Recycling Coalition (CURC), RecycleMania, Inc. and the Environmental Protection Agency’s WasteWise program.  During the Challenge, colleges and universities select one or more home football games to promote waste reduction and recycling.

Winners for each athletic conference will be recognized, with five different categories per conference. National winners will be recognized in two categories: 1) total amount recycled, composted and donated; and 2) diversion rate – or the percentage of waste diverted from disposal.  During the 2014 GameDay Recycling Challenge, nearly 2.2 million pounds of waste was diverted from 91 colleges and universities.

"Football is big on our campus and the GameDay Recycling Challenge is our chance to shine," said Dave VanDeventer, Clemson University's solid waste and recycling manager. “The Challenge allows us to showcase our athletics department’s sustainability efforts and demonstrate Clemson’s competiveness off the field as well as on.”  The Clemson Tigers beat out colleges across the nation to win the 2014 GameDay Recycling Challenge by collecting over 60,000 pounds of recyclables and food organics during a single home game.

GameDay Recycling Challenge also honors schools each year that are committed to Zero Waste via an online “Zero Waste Wall of Fame.” Zero waste is commonly defined as reaching a 90 percent or higher diversion rate.

"Ardagh Group is proud to be the sponsor of the GameDay Recycling Challenge,” said Alex Robertson, chief commercial officer for Ardagh Group’s North American Glass Division.  "We are committed to helping make our planet a clean, more beautiful place to live by manufacturing 100 percent, endlessly recyclable glass containers for foods and beverages.  By working with GameDay Recycling Challenge, we can help create more sustainable colleges and universities, which also have a positive impact on their local communities. "

For more information about the GameDay Recycling Challenge, visit GameDayChallenge.org.

About Keep America Beautiful
At Keep America Beautiful, we want to ensure that beauty is our lasting signature. A leading national nonprofit, Keep America Beautiful inspires and educates people to take action every day to improve and beautify their community environment. We envision a country where every community is a clean, green, and beautiful place to live. Established in 1953, Keep America Beautiful provides the expertise, programs and resources to help people end littering in America, increase recycling in America, and beautify America’s communities. The organization is driven by the work and passion of more than 600 community-based Keep America Beautiful affiliates, millions of volunteers, and the support of corporate partners, municipalities, elected officials, and individuals. To learn how you can donate or take action, visit kab.org. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, like us on Facebook, or view us on YouTube.

About the College & University Recycling Coalition
The College and University Recycling Coalition (CURC) is a membership-based nonprofit organization whose mission is to advance recycling and sustainable materials management at colleges and universities. CURC represents a vibrant community of recycling professionals in higher education on over 800 college campuses across the United States. CURC members connect with each other through an active email listserv and at gatherings in conjunction with state and national conferences. CURC provides support to collegiate recycling programs through technical assistance, education, and training, including a webinar series, annual workshops, and the development of best-practices manuals and toolkits. For more information, visit curc3r.org.

About RecycleMania
RecycleMania launched in 2001 as a friendly challenge between Ohio University and Miami University to increase recycling on their campuses. The contest has expanded from two schools in 2001 to nearly 500 colleges and universities in 2014 spanning all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada. Over an eight-week period, campuses compete to see which institution can collect the largest amount of recyclables per capita, the largest amount of total recyclables, the least amount of trash per capita, or have the highest recycling rate. For complete competition details, visit RecycleMania.org.

About the Environmental Protection Agency’s Materials Management Program
Rethink. Think Beyond Waste doesn’t just mean making good decisions about the end of a product’s life cycle (recycling, composting, energy recovery, and landfilling). It refers to sustainable materials management – the use and reuse of materials in the most productive and sustainable way across their entire life cycle. Sustainable materials management conserves resources, reduces waste, slows climate change, and minimizes the environmental impacts of the materials we use. Learn more about SMM and what EPA is doing at http://www.epa.gov/smm/basic.htm.

###