The University’s Office of Sustainability and Virginia Football are hosting their annual Green Game at Scott Stadium this Saturday. In addition to competing against Duke University in football, U.Va. is also competing against other colleges across the nation as part of the Gameday Recycling Challenge, an initiative to reduce waste by increasing recycling and composting at football games.
“We definitely have a culture of consumption and unfortunately a lot of that waste goes to the landfill, despite it being items that could be recycled or composted,” said Lela Garner, the University’s sustainability coordinator. “Some percentage of items that end up in the landfill can be diverted but they unfortunately aren’t.”
Last year, the University achieved a waste diversion rate of 63.4 percent, meaning that 63.4 percent of all the waste from game day — both inside the stadium and from surrounding tailgates — was diverted from the landfill. This placed the University second in the Atlantic Coast Conference and 10th in the nation. Over 42,000 pounds of waste were recycled, another 3,000 pounds were composted and the total waste generated per person went down 39 percent compared to 2017.
This is the University’s 11th year participating in the challenge. While the ultimate goal is to create a zero waste event where 90 percent of the waste generated is diverted, the target for this year is a waste diversion rate of over 70 percent, according to Garner. Exactly 104 student volunteers have signed up to help at the event, more than in any previous year.
“It’s really nice to be able to say ‘we’re competing against Tech!’ and ‘we’re competing against Duke!’ to see who can divert [more] waste,” Garner said. “While that competition component is certainly a fun twist to the volunteering event, I think most people actually want to get involved. They want to help steward the community, they want to interact with fans, and they want to do something good at the end of the day.”
Volunteers are broken down into three shifts that take place before, during and after the game.
The first shift of volunteers is responsible for engaging with tailgaters across Grounds, handing out recycling bags and encouraging them to recycle. They also ask tailgaters to take any waste they’ve generated back home with them.
For the second shift, volunteers are sent directly into the stadium, where they stand by the waste bins and help people sort their waste during the game. The final shift requires over half of the volunteers, who “sweep the bowl” after the game is over, according to Garner. They collect the compost, recycling and landfill — and make sure that all the waste gets sorted properly.
Second-year College student Brooke Crouch volunteered at the event last year and is volunteering again this year. She believes the event provides a valuable opportunity to interact with the broader University and Charlottesville community and generate conversations about sustainability and waste.
“[Last year] we spent hours sorting through people’s trash, combing the Bowl for waste people left in their seats, and educating fans on how to properly sort their waste,” Crouch said. “It was definitely a lot of work, but I really felt like I was having a tangible impact and making a difference.”
One of the main purposes of the event is to educate people about sorting their waste and get them out of the habit of throwing waste directly in the landfill. By engaging in sustainable practices, people can easily reduce their individual environmental impact.
“It’s important to have these conversations from an educational standpoint,” Garner said. “I think a lot of people are intentionally throwing their items in the landfill but they don’t know that they have these options of recycling and composting.”
According to Garner, the University is fortunate enough to have its own recycling team that hand sorts all the recycling generated on Grounds at an on-site facility. To obtain data about the amount of waste generated, the Office of Sustainability partners with UVA Recycling and Black Bear Composting. They also work with Aramark, the University’s dining service, to try and swap out landfill versions with compostable versions, such as swapping large popcorn bins for brown paper bags that can be composted.
In addition to the Green Game for football, there is also an annual basketball Green Game in the spring. The Office of Sustainability holds smaller events throughout the year such as the Green Sports Weekend in September that aimed to divert waste from volleyball, field hockey and soccer games, but their main focus is basketball and football due to the sheer amount of participants at these games. A crowd of 57,826 — the largest since 2015 — attended Virginia football’s 31-24 win over Florida State University on Sept. 13. Last season, the men’s basketball team averaged 14,087 fans per game.
“Something that makes Green Game really important is that we do have a waste diversion goal for the University,” Garner said. “Participating in larger events like this can really impact our numbers in terms of waste generation. While it’s important to do these larger events, I also wanted to make a note that we can help minimize waste at any size event.”
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