Ohio University Earns Second Straight National GameDay Recycling Championship

  • 01/25/17

ATHENS, OH – Ohio University (OHIO) has successfully defended its national champion status in the GameDay Recycling Challenge, a competition between universities across the nation to achieve the greatest success in recycling and waste diversion.

For the second year in a row, Ohio University led the nation with a diversion rate of more than 95.6 percent, sharing the 2016 national title with Eastern Washington University. In total, Ohio University diverted 5,400 pounds of recyclable waste, sending only 244 pounds to the landfill. 

“Zero Waste is the emerging reality that nearly everything we buy, consume and later discard are valuable resources that can and need to be recovered back into the economy. Major events, such as the GameDay Challenge, demonstrate that across the nation a zero or near zero waste society really is achievable. Think about it, out of over two and half tons of materials created at a home football game, less than 250 lbs were actual landfill.”

The 2016 GameDay Recycling Challenge took place at OHIO’s Oct. 15, 2016, home football game. While the Bobcats battled Eastern Michigan University on the field, more than 23,000 fans in attendance at Peden Stadium helped OHIO defend its Diversion Rate Champion title.

Both before and after the game, dozens of Campus Recycling and Zero Waste team members and volunteers helped sort recyclables and compostable items within the stadium and outside at various tailgating festivities.

Prior to post-game sorting, 57 percent of all waste produced had already been diverted from the landfill through the fans’ recycling and composting efforts. After the game, the recycling team sorted through waste bags to divert additional materials for a total diversion rate of more than 95 percent.

The challenge ranks participating schools based on the quantity of recyclables, food organics and other materials diverted from the landfill at college football stadiums and tailgating areas. During the competition, schools tracked weights for individual games, with the totals used to rank schools nationally and by athletic conference.

In total, more than 2.6 million pounds of materials were recycled, composted or donated through the GameDay Challenge efforts of 78 colleges and universities across the nation — a 4.8 percent increase over the previous year.

The GameDay Recycling Challenge is organized through a partnership of the College and University Recycling Coalition (CURC), Keep America Beautiful, RecycleMania, Inc. and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s WasteWise.

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