Officials hope to make tailgates eco-friendly

As many tailgaters wrap up their pregame festivities in parking lots across the campus, recycling the day's empty bottles and cans sometimes takes a back seat to the impending football showdown.

To amp up recycling efforts at tailgates, the university is participating in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Game Day Challenge, a national competition to reduce trash at a selected football game at 83 universities. At the Oct. 15 game against Clemson, Facilities Management officials collected the day's waste — 49 percent of which came from recycling bins and 51 percent which was discarded as trash, according to Facilities Management Recycling Coordinator Bill Guididas.

But some students have repeatedly said more needs to be done to make tailgates environmentally friendly.

Several game day patrons, such as Dave Bowman of Gaithersburg, who was tailgating before Saturday's game against Boston College, said recycling is not their top priority as they prepare to head into the stadium.

"It's just a hassle. We usually have 16 people tailgating, and it's hard to tell people, ‘Okay, put trash in the white bags and recycling in the clear bags,'" Bowman said. "We don't touch it."

In 2008, university officials implemented a program, dubbed Feed the Turtle, to combat this issue, according to Joshua Kaplan, the assistant athletic director of facilities operations and events. The program provides a "valet recycling" service — in which Facilities Management staff ride golf carts through parking lots to distribute single stream recycling bags to tailgaters, said Facilities Management Assistant Director Sandy Dykes.

Laurie Sexton of Hagerstown, who was tailgating at Saturday's game, said she uses the bags whenever they're handed to her. She said she didn't receive any at the tailgate.

In its first year, the Feed the Turtle program reportedly diverted 59 tons of solid waste from landfills and boasted a 41 percent recycling rate, this university's Office of Sustainability's records show. However, several students said this is not enough — more needs to be done to prevent empty bottles and cans from making their way into trash cans on game day.

"Something that might be a good idea for students to do is go out there and encourage people to recycle," said Michelle Kim, the director of sustainability for the Student Government Association. "It's a personal accountability thing."

Rob Hill of Bel Air, who participated in on-campus pregame festivities Saturday, said although he tried to make sure not to leave behind non-biodegradable items after tailgates, he did not make an effort to separate trash and recyclables.

"Recycling doesn't come into it when I'm tailgating. At home, yeah, but not here," he said. "I feel like I could throw some chicken on the ground, but I mostly collect my trash."

saravia@umdbk.com