Program to promote recycling to tailgaters

A winning football season brings more trash than trash talk.

It also brings the opportunity to collect several tons of recyclable materials.

The UNC Office of Waste Reduction and Recycling is in the planning stages of a new recycling program that targets tailgaters.

“As more and more people are coming to the games and getting excited, the parking lots are left messier,” said B.J. Tipton, solid waste program manager for the office.

The program involves distributing bags to tailgaters in University parking lots and asking them to separate recyclable items from other trash.

The office plans to recruit volunteers from student organizations to distribute the bags before games. The process for collecting the bags is yet to be determined, Tipton said.

Still in the research phase, the UNC office surveyed about 150 tailgaters at last Saturday’s game against Georgia Tech, said David Paschal, a sophomore intern with the office. Volunteers asked questions designed to gauge tailgaters’ interest in a new recycling program.

“The basic goal is to give fans who tailgate an opportunity to recycle and dispose of their trash without having to do much on their own,” Paschal said.

Current recycling initiatives for football games only involve the stadium area. The office places bins at the gates and inside the stadium. During postgame cleanup, ROTC members separate any recyclables left in the stands.

Craig Carter, a senior researching the environmental impact of sports and specifically of Kenan Memorial Stadium, said change is needed.

“The most important thing is changing the mindset of fans and helping them to understand they really have the ability to be far more responsible than they are right now,” Carter said.

The office plans to test the program during the final home game Nov. 22 against N.C. State and fully implement it during the 2009 football season.

Tipton learned about a similar program at Pennsylvania State University while attending a national recycling conference. She said the Penn State program provides a good model for UNC.

Recycling programs exist at local universities such as N.C. State, but the structure of the Penn State program works well for a campus such as UNC with tailgating areas that are spread out, Tipton said.

“It’s not as flashy and won’t be as labor-intensive, but it’s a great program for our needs,” she said.

The Penn State program, implemented 15 years ago, continues to make progress, said Al Matyasovsky, supervisor of central support services at Penn State.

The last Penn State home game produced 23 tons of recyclable materials, a record amount collected for a single game.

“The number one thing is the committed, articulate students who have ownership of the program,” Matyasovsky said of the program’s success.

He stressed that it might be difficult to change years of behavior, but determination will pay off.



Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.