When the game clock stopped and the last of 47,933 Arizona Wildcat fans left Arizona Stadium after Wildcats football team lost again Washington on Oct. 12, there was one thing that stayed behind: Garbage, and lots of it.
Approximately 8.1 tons to be exact, according to Jill Burris, a project manager at the UA Facilities management.
Most of that waste usually goes to the landfill, but the UA is trying to change that.
For a fourth season, the University of Arizona is participating in the Pac-12 Zero Waste Challenge with the goal of trying to recycle or compost 90% of the waste from each football game in order to reduce the university’s environmental impact.
Each season, participating Pac-12 universities report their waste after selected football and basketball home games and get rewarded for the highest percentage of waste diverted from the landfill, fan engagement, student and athlete engagement, and improvement.
The winners of the previous seasons — the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Southern California — both managed to divert more than 90% of garbage through composting and recycling.
The UA was named “the most improved” after going from 20% to 45% diversion rate in the 2018-2019 season.
This season, the UA decided to attack the waste problem from all sides: handpicking of recyclables, fans education, student engagement and food donations.
“One of the challenges of making something zero waste is looking throughout the entire supply chain,” Burris said. “What are we offering for purchase and sale during the game, and on the backside, what are the outlets for this: is composting available, is recyclable material available?”
Another challenge is to educate fans and motivate them to recycle. The university has delegated this task to student groups passionate about sustainable issues, like Greening the Game.
The group — an organization that employs students who work with the UA Office for Sustainability to reduce waste during sports events — posted up during tailgating at the Cole and Jeannie Davis Sports Center next to Arizona Stadium to teach fans about recycling.
“Our job is to inform fans what can be composted, recycled or thrown away into the landfill, and how better minimize your waste at the game but also in life,” said Katie Dalrymple, a Greening the Game student worker. During the game, Dalrymple and her colleagues also stood next to trash bins to advise them on recycling.
On the other side of the Davis Center, strategically in front of the fans who were lining up for autograph sessions with athletes, was the Compost Cats stand. The student-run program focuses on composting food scraps and plant garbage.
“Many people are hesitant about composting, as they don’t know what it is, but that’s what we are trying to change,” said Madison Padgett, Compost Cats program’s assistant. The organization currently doesn’t accept any compostables due to reorganization, but still promotes sustainability by giving away paper fliers on home composting techniques.
The doubling of the diversion rate in the season 2018-2019 was achieved not only through better collection of recyclables but also through the separation of compostables from trash, according to the Pac-12 Conference website.
This year leftover food and everything that has contact with food — think hot dog wraps, nacho bowls, napkins — typically ends up in the landfill. So the UA Office of Sustainability tried a new tactic during last month’s game — a donation of prepared but not sold food, Burris said.
After the game, 267 meals from catering were donated to Campus Pantry, a supplementary grocery program on campus to reduce food insecurity among students. The concessions donated 100 hot dogs, 50 Pretzels and 30 boxes of popcorn to Gospel Rescue Missions and other Tucson homeless services.
The day after the game, volunteers spent two hours at the stadium collecting the remaining trash left in the stands. Overall, the UA helped divert 45.71% of waste from the landfill. The next zero-waste game at the Arizona Stadium will be against the University of Utah Nov. 23.