Football fans compete to divert waste

This fall, colleges across the country will compete to see which schools can reduce, reuse, and recycle the most waste as part of the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) 2011 Game Day Challenge. Registration for the competition is now open, and champions will be crowned this December.

Any college or university in the United States with a football team can compete. The challenge is for schools to design a waste reduction plan for one 2011 regular season home football game and measure the results. Schools can collect common materials for recycling including paper, beverage containers, cardboard, and food to be donated and composted. The amount of waste generated and recycled will determine which school is the greenest.

Schools can win in several categories:

• Least amount of waste generated per attendee.
• Greatest greenhouse gas reductions from diverting waste.
• Highest recycling rate.
• Highest organics reduction rate.
• Highest combined recycling and composting rate.

The competition is sponsored by EPA’s WasteWise program, a voluntary program through which organizations eliminate costly municipal solid waste and select industrial wastes, benefiting their bottom line and the environment.

Last year, more than 75 participating schools kept 500,000 pounds of waste out of landfills.