GameDay Recycling Challenge pits colleges and universities against one another

College football tackles 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. The contest runs until the end of November.

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 at which 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," says 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 more than 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,” says 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.”

Robertson adds, “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."