Grant Aimed at Increasing Collection of Recyclable and Compostable Materials at Tailgating Sites
Old Dominion University has received a $3,500 grant from the Glad Products Co. to participate in its College Waste Diversion program.
During home football games next fall, ODU's Office of Facilities Management will attempt to collect all recyclables and compostable materials from tailgate events throughout all 13 tailgating parking lots.
Krista Harrell-Blair, sustainability coordinator for the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS) with the ODU office, and Patricia King, landscape architect with Facilities Management, co-authored the grant submission.
"We're very excited about this program," Harrell-Blair said. "Our amazing football team brings an enthusiastic crowd of tailgaters for every home game. These great fans will be able to participate in an active waste-diversion program, while having fun cheering on the Monarchs."
The grant money will pay for recycling and composting containers as well as the transportation and tipping fee for hauling compostable materials to a local composting center. The funds will also be used to hire students for additional assistance in collecting recycling and composting materials on game days.
In addition, a portion of the funds will be used to create better signage and outreach materials highlighting the waste diversion practice and encouraging support from the ODU community. Three student interns will be selected to staff game days for both operational and educational purposes.
Glad's One Bag campaign supports events of all sizes that strive to send just one bag of waste to landfill, with the rest going to recycling and compost.
The company also has partnered with the Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) to help college football programs tackle waste, and recruit campuses to join the One Bag movement.
The STARS program is a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to gauge relative progress toward sustainability. STARS was developed by AASHE with broad participation from the higher education community. ODU was one of the first institutions in the country to commit to the program.