The competition reached 7.2 million fans at 137 games, based on reported stadium attendance numbers.

Mallory Szczepanski, Vice President of Member Relations and Publications

February 12, 2019

6 Slides

To help reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill during college sporting events, the College and University Recycling Coalition, RecycleMania Inc., National Wildlife Federation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency host the annual GameDay Recycling Challenge, a nationwide competition that challenges colleges and universities to increase their recycling and composting efforts during home football games.

During each competition cycle, challenge participants measure and report the amount of recyclables, organic food waste and trash generated at one or more regular season home football games. In 2018, 65 participating schools recycled, composted or donated 2.5 million pounds of gameday waste.

The University of Rochester was the national champion in the Diversion category (recycling, plus organics composting and recovery as a percent of total trash) with a 91.71 percent diversion rate.

“We are very proud to receive this honor and thank the organizers for challenging us all to make big improvements in waste reduction,” said Amy Kadrie, University of Rochester sustainability coordinator, in a statement. “Through the lessons we have learned over time, and the support of all who are involved, we have managed to maintain a true zero waste status for the past four years straight, yielding in big results on our small-scale operation.”

To view the 2018 GameDay Recycling Challenge Diversion rate winners, flip through this gallery.

About the Author(s)

Mallory Szczepanski

Vice President of Member Relations and Publications, NWRA

Mallory Szczepanski was previously the editorial director for Waste360. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Columbia College Chicago, where her research focused on magazine journalism. She also has previously worked for Contract magazine, Restaurant Business magazine, FoodService Director magazine and Concrete Construction magazine.

Stay in the Know - Subscribe to Our Newsletters
Join a network of more than 90,000 waste and recycling industry professionals. Get the latest news and insights straight to your inbox. Free.

You May Also Like