Game Day Challenge Results
The men’s basketball game on February 21st was the GameDay Challenge as a part of OHIO Campus Recycling’s Campus Race to Zero Waste. We are in week five of the eight-week challenge, and there are many events coming up to engage students and community members in this effort.
During the game, members of the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service, the Climate and Sustainability Ambassadors, Campus Recycling, and community members tabled and helped Bobcat fans place their trash in the correct bin. After the game, all waste was sorted and the stands were litter picked.
There was 204 pounds of waste generated during the game, and 56% of it was recovered. Of the recovered waste, 80% was recycled and 20% was composted. Campus Recycling partnered with Athens-Hocking Recycling Center and the compost that was collected from the game was shredded at their facility. This partnership allows for a greater number of products to be composted because of AHRC’s shredder. Ellie Shanklin, a staff member at Campus Recycling, shared that “It was really exciting to see compost bins at the game to allow more waste to be recovered”.
Having Ambassadors as “bin goalies” allows them to educate the public on what can be composted, recycled, and what must be thrown away. Lillian Keener, a freshman Ambassador, said that “This was my first event as a Climate and Sustainability Ambassador, and I felt that I made a difference. It was great to have a role in educating the public on how to properly dispose of their waste”.
Sorting through all of the trash ensures that everything is in the correct bin. It also gives Campus Recycling an idea of what products go into the landfill and could be switched to recyclable or compostable items in the future to increase the percentage of recovered waste.