KU Athletics Recycling (2012)

University of Kansas Athletics Recycling

Environmental Studies Capstone Project Spring 2012 Anna Archer, Stuart Brill, Kayla Fox, Katie Hermes, Matt Modrcin, Keri Schreiner, Julie Thomas

KU Athletics Recycling

Executive Summary

Research Objective: To work with KU Athletics to improve the overall sustainability of the organization.

 Focus on recycling at athletic events  Open dialogue between KU Center for Sustainability and Athletic Department Key Players: Jay Ellis and JD Loudabarger - events and facilities services, Kari Cantarero -

Recycling Manager, Phil Tillman - Centerplate Concessions

Background: Found what is currently being done within the basketball, football, and baseball programs with regards to recycling.

Findings: After assessing the needs of the KU Athletic Department, we found:

 Maintaining the pristine image of athletic venues is the main challenge to increasing the amount of recycling at athletic events  Space constrains the volume of recycling that can be collected  The design of the current recycling bins are problematic to both the athletics faculty and fans Recommendations: We propose that KU Athletics focus on increasing the recycling efforts by:

 Place recycling bins in both the football and baseball stadiums  Coordinate volunteer efforts through the campus and local community  Use marketing strategies to promote recycling initiatives throughout the athletic department  Work with concessions to reduce waste

Introduction

In accordance with the KU Sustainability Plan, this project sought to promote recycling programs within the KU Athletics Department. As an independent corporate entity, the Athletics

Department needed to develop new cooperative partnerships with KU focused on improving their recycling capabilities by pooling resources. By expanding the discussion of recycling to the athletics department, we hope to have an impact on the overall sustainability of the university by increasing the recycling efforts made by the university. The athletics department at KU is immense and therefore it is critical that it be incorporated into the goal of lessening our environmental footprint by decreasing the amount of waste generated by the university.

Recycling is a process that helps to prevent waste and reduce the overall impact we have on our environment. Our group decided to focus on expanding the recycling efforts of KU to different athletic events and venues. We agreed that recycling would be our priority because it was the most feasible in the amount of time we had and there were many ways in which the current recycling program that exists throughout the athletics department could be improved.

Our project has examined the background of KU athletics recycling, researched other successful college programs, and assessed the needs of the current recycling systems at athletic events.

This process has allowed us to make recommendations that address our findings and suggest ways to improve the current KU athletics recycling efforts. By collaborating with the KU

Athletic Department, KU Recycling, and the Center for Sustainability, we were able to open dialogue about athletic recycling programs and examine the ways in which Athletics can become a more sustainable organization. Our goal has been to improve the current recycling systems and open the discussion between student organizations, the KU Center for Sustainability, and the 3 athletic department. We hope that our recommendations can be useful to future groups and that they will be able to progress our efforts to support a more sustainable athletics department.

Methodology

To begin our project, we established what athletic recycling efforts have already been explored. We initially met with Jeff Severin, from the KU Center for Sustainability, who provided us with essential KU Athletics and KU recycling contact information. We interviewed

Nick Benson, who worked with the KU recycling program and Environs regarding Athletics recycling efforts. We also interviewed Kari Cantarero, the Program Manager for the

Environmental Stewardship Program in Facilities Operations. She discussed how KU Recycling might serve in future efforts to increase recycling at KU Athletics. After we deduced the current state of the KU Athletics recycling, we began to research recycling programs at other universities. Schools were selected based on the ingenuity and quality of their recycling program or their similarity to KU. Universities with established or still developing recycling programs could prove to be models for our own campus. We contacted representatives from each university's recycling program to learn more about the development of recycling programs on those campuses and possible recommendations for the challenges we faced here at KU.

We scheduled two different meetings with KU Athletics faculty to discuss future recycling opportunities. We met with JD Loudabarger, events coordinator, and Jay Ellis, facilities' manager, to discuss their current challenges implementing recycling programs at

Athletic events. We also interviewed Phil Tillman, concessions manager of Centerplate, who provided us with logistical information on the limitations and possibilities of future recycling and waste reduction actions in concessions. After touring the baseball stadium, we applied for a grant with the help of Kari Cantarero. 4

Key Players

The first two individuals we contacted were Nick Benson and Jeff Severin. Nick is the head of the Environs recycling program. Instead of having different goals than Environs, the idea was that by meeting with him we would be able to simply expand on their previous contributions and not be counterproductive to their goals. This seemed to not be a significant problem as Environs mainly focuses on football. Jeff, on the other hand, is connected with the

University as Director for the Center of Sustainability. His role was limited to directing us towards the correct person to contact, Kari Cantarero.

Kari, acting manager of the Environmental Stewardship Program, was the most instrumental in our group‟s success. She acted as our mediator in the meeting with JD

Loudabarger and Jay Ellis from the KU Athletics Department. Aside from this, Kari was present during class to meet with us multiple times, as well as helping us greatly with our bin grant proposal.

JD and Jay are Assistant Athletic Director of Event Services and Assistant Athletic

Director of Facilities Services, respectfully. They are in charge of what recycling efforts will and will not be implemented at athletic events. At the same time, both were very open to further recycling at the games but both also realize the impediments, which would need to be dealt with in order to do this. At the meeting, we were able to express our ideas and they had the opportunity to let us know concrete reasons of what was the most feasible for athletics. JD was also able to put us into contact with Rick Barnes and Phil Tillman, who are the manager and assistant manager of Centerplate concessions, respectfully.

Any questions in regard to concessions, Phil and Rick were able to answer. We were able to meet with Phil during a baseball game briefly to discuss which steps Centerplate could 5 take. During a meeting at Phil‟s office, this particular discussion went even further in-depth. He was able to elaborate further than JD and Jay on the operations of concessions inside of the stadiums, to what extent they would be willing to participate, and to what had been done in the past.

Background

The goal of our project was to help start a recycling program for KU Athletics, but we discovered that recycling is incorporated in a few of the sports programs at the University of

Kansas. While more can be done, the athletics department has taken the necessary steps to set up recycling for the football, basketball and baseball programs.

Football

Currently during home football games the athletics department has made it a priority to recycle specific materials. Recycling has been established within the press boxes in order to recycle stat sheets. During the game, stat sheets are printed after every quarter, which amounts to a lot of paper being used every home game. Recycling the paper helps mitigate some of the waste that was produced.

Throughout the season athletics receives many deliveries, from food to merchandise to equipment, at Memorial Stadium. The KU Athletics Department currently has a cardboard recycling system set in place. After deliveries are made, the cardboard from the boxes are taken to a dumpster outside the stadium. Once a week KU Recycling picks up the cardboard and takes it to its facility on West Campus, where the cardboard is recycled properly.

Finally, the local nonprofit group Cans for the Community collect aluminum cans from tailgaters outside of Memorial Stadium. Volunteers collect the materials before, during and after home football games and sell the recyclables to a local recycling center. This benefits the KU 6

Athletics Department because it cleans up the area outside of the football stadium and it keeps the aluminum cans out of the landfill.

Basketball

Of the three sports our group focused on, the recycling in Allen Fieldhouse is the largest and most extensive. Throughout Allen Fieldhouse the KU Athletics Department has set recycling bins next to trashcans. After home games the recycling is then moved to a dumpster behind the

Fieldhouse, where KU Recycling picks up the recyclables and moves them to its facilities. The items recycled the most inside Allen Fieldhouse are plastic bottles. However, paper recycling is also offered in offices at the Fieldhouse.

The KU Athletics Department has developed a program in which it will pay local or KU organizations to clean Allen Fieldhouse after home basketball games. Typically the cleaning consists of groups using either brooms or leaf blowers to collect the trash. However, the athletic department will provide more money for those groups and organizations that choose to sort and recycle the materials. While this may be more work for the groups, they receive more money and

KU athletics is not sending as much waste to the landfill.

Baseball

Hoglund Ballpark is the smallest of the three stadiums our group focused on throughout the semester. This is also the program which is least involved when it comes to recycling. Just like with football, the KU Athletics Department has established a recycling program within the press boxes. Throughout a nine-inning game a magnitude of paperwork and stat sheets can be produced. This recycling program established in the press boxes helps lower KU Athletics‟ carbon footprint. While currently there are no recycling bins around the stadium other than in the press boxes, there is ample space to place recycling bins next to the trash cans, near the 7 concession stands and in the handicap spaces inside the stadium where trash cans are already placed.

Research

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

A particularly helpful and large university that has certain similarities to the University of

Kansas that our group decided to research was the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. This particular university has been doing some very unique projects that could be very helpful to furthering our university‟s recycling program within the athletic department. For example, UT‟s football program has set up a collection program not just within the stands for the spectators, where they recycle cardboard and plastic bottles, but also behind the scenes as well. They have set up a system to collect items such as plastic bottles, aluminum cans, paper, food waste and cardboard from the skyboxes and have set up recycling bins in both locker rooms and where all the family members of the athletes, and the athletes themselves, eat before, during, and after the game. The bins in these areas collect the same items that the skyboxes are collecting. This is very unique because these areas are not within the public eye and do not get a lot of attention or publicity from many audiences outside of the athletic community that the university might want to attract with a program such as recycling.

According to Jay Price, who is the Environmental Coordinator for the Facilities Services

Department for the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, another important collection system is that of the wood pallets from the actual stadium, on which they receive all of their bulk items for the game days themselves. The reason this is such a huge deal is because roughly 102,500 people fit into their stadium, making each home game a large event. The overall outcome of this 8 collection system is that the athletic department is able to recycle about 30% of their waste from each home game.

Oregon State University

Another university that can be seen as helpful to the University of Kansas athletic department is Oregon State University. This particular school has also set up recycling bins around their stadiums, with their main focus on football, which is similar to UT because of the large event style. Since the OSU school year starts late, not until late October, they have student- athlete volunteers to cover the first few games. „Covering‟ the home games can be classified as standing at each of the bins and making sure the proper material goes into the proper bin. For example, metal goes in its bin, the glass in another, etc. They also have found that utilizing a few other campus groups in the process as well really helps out their end result to recycle as much as possible.

One of the main resistances that Marianne Vydra, the Assistant Athletic Director of OSU, suggested that we might run into when initiating a recycling program would be actually trying the get the message of recycling out to the public. For example, outside groups apart from the athletic department usually have to pay to have a video or message broadcasted during football games and other sporting events. This could pose a problem for KU if the actual athletic department did not initiate the program and therefore have easier access to broadcasting a message to the community about recycling during game days. She also pointed out that it might be a good idea to make sure that the “properties”, which is the official media rights holder for a particular university, was more aware that this was an athletic department initiative and not necessarily a campus recycling initiative, this way the athletic department would be seen in a new, advantageous light to the community. 9

North Carolina State University

North Carolina State University has developed a very successful football game day recycling program called “W.E. Recycle.” The program was founded in 2003 and was immediately endorsed by the university‟s head football coach at that time. Each football season the program successfully diverts over twenty tons of aluminum cans and plastic bottles from reaching the landfill. The program relies on a large volunteer force that picks up bottles and cans before the game. The volunteers also distribute specially marked blue trash bags to fans to put their beverage containers in for pick up at a later time during the game. The program has been a successful operation because it uses incentives to encourage people to volunteer and to recycle.

The incentive for the volunteer is that for each game they volunteer at they receive a free ticket to that day‟s football game. The incentive for the fans to recycle is that for every four cans they recycle they receive a free koozie. Both of these incentives have proven to be popular amongst the community and have resulted in a higher turnout of recycled materials. The program has also been helped by large-scale promotions by the school, including large banners that hang outside of the football stadium and in parking lots where fans tailgate. Additionally, the program has been helped considerably by partnering with Waste Industries, a waste management company.

Elements of this system could possibly be incorporated into KU Athletics‟ future recycling endeavors.

Colorado University

The basis of the athletics-recycling program at Colorado University lies at football games because this sport is by far the greatest producer of waste. One of the major and fairly aggressive goals is to divert 90% of waste from landfills. This is done through both waste minimization efforts, and composting of waste, which cannot be prevented. Although this takes 10 place at each home game, the only game in the last season during which a full waste composition study was performed was October 22, 2011 against Oregon. This consisted of utilizing the normal volunteers to sort and weigh waste materials after the game for specific insight into what is still being wasted.

The goal of 90% waste reduction was nearly met with a total of 88% of waste by weight being diverted. By looking at where the CU program was successful, we are able to decide what could be done at KU as well. One of the major successes of this program was in the number of volunteers and the knowledge of volunteers. This included 70 community volunteers along with members of the ROTC. Many of these volunteers were used by manning the many zero-waste stations set up for both recycling and compost outside and inside the stadium. By having individuals present at all times, volunteers were able to successfully ensure that recycling was not placed in the wrong bin and that everything which was recyclable was actually recycled.

Aside from this, Centerplate staff sorted materials that were deemed waste from concessions into appropriate groupings for further waste diversion.

Kansas State University

Kansas State University presented many interesting ideas, especially because of the athletic tradition that exists between KU and K-State. There is a lot of potential to develop a friendly competition between these schools that could boost support for athletics recycling and sustainability initiatives. The recent “Take Charge Challenge” in 2011 is a great example of a competition that had Lawrence and Manhattan competing against each other in energy conservation. A similar program that could be geared more towards athletics is RecycleMania, which tracks the amount of trash and recycling a university collects over an 8-week period. K-

State and KU have both been participants in this program in recent years but there is little 11 publicity about this competition. RecycleMania could easily be focused on recycling at athletic events and could help to gain awareness about new recycling programs offered at KU athletic events.

Juergen Greve is currently the K-State Gameday Recycling student coordinator and his role is to organize volunteers to help with recycling at athletic events. This is the first year that

K-State hired a gameday recycling coordinator and the priority has been to increase recycling efforts at football games. It was beneficial to talk to Greve since many of the challenges and restraints that K-State has faced are similar to KU. This is because both schools are reliant on volunteers for recycling and new programs have mainly been student led, instead of administratively created. Greve stated that the most challenging aspect to improving the recycling efforts at K-State has been “not getting enough volunteers, running out of bags (rarely), having a table stolen when it was unattended, and sorting through lots of trashed mixed in with the recycling” (Greve, “Gameday Recycling Summary and Suggestions, 2011). He suggested that there should be incentives to reward people who volunteer, such as receiving community service credit through a K-State program called HandsOn. He also made specific suggestions regarding the labeling of bags so that less trash gets mixed in with recycling.

Ohio State University

Our group decided to look at Ohio State University because, although it is larger than the

University of Kansas, it has established a successful recycling program in its football stadium.

This is something that the University of Kansas has yet to accomplish. In 2011, Ohio State

University started a Zero Waste Program in Ohio Stadium. According to Ohio State University,

“Ohio Stadium is the largest stadium in the country to attempt zero waste, which refers to 90 percent of material from the landfill by recycling and composting.” In order to meet the goal of 12 having zero waste, recycling bins, as well as composing bins, were set up throughout Ohio

Stadium. Currently at the stadium, Ohio State composts food, napkins, paper towels, paper products, and pizza products while recycling consists of plastic bottles, aluminum cans and glass bottles. As well as providing areas for materials to be recycled or composted, all items that are for sale inside the stadium are either recyclable or compostable.

During the 2011 season, an average of 75.3 percent of waste was diverted from the landfill through recycling and composting at Ohio Stadium. Ohio State University has focused on the issue of diverting waste generated at home football games from the landfill because it not only reduces the environmental impact, which was a part of the commitment the University had to sustainability, but it also will mean a reduction in costs related to stadium waste collection.

Overall, the University of Kansas should look to Ohio State University when starting a recycling program in Memorial Stadium.

University of Florida

UF organizes their volunteers into small teams with captains who receive training on the athletics recycling program. These Green Teams encourage fans to recycle and sort recycling after the games. The Athletics department works extensively with the larger university to coordinate ways to engage students in the recycling program. These include internships and service-learning opportunities. UF has also decreased waste through reusable cups and composting. The Athletics Department is also looking for more efficient recycling bins.

Grant

One of the more proactive parts of our project was applying for a collegiate bin grant through the Coca-Cola Company. The bin grant program was designed in collaboration between

Keeping America Beautiful, Coca-Cola, and College and University Recycling Coalition. Their 13 goal was to support, “recycling in communities and on college and university campuses by providing bins to selected grant recipients for the collection of beverage container recyclables”

(http://bingrant.org/). Because our main goal was to work through athletics to improve recycling we applied for 72 bins to be used in our athletic facilities throughout the year. We were able to choose the style of bin that worked best for the athletic department‟s needs. The bin we chose to apply for was called the “plastic general-purpose bin”. Each bin holds 60 gallons and is designed to collect in both indoor and outdoor settings. The reason we chose this bin was because of the pyramid shaped top, to avoid fans using the bins as tables for their concessions, and also because they are very visible and easy to maneuver. We wanted to use the bins mostly at the baseball and football stadiums to start programs at those facilities.

Unfortunately, we received the news last week that we were not one of the schools selected to receive a bin grant. Although we were upset about the results we concluded that we most likely did not get the grant because we applied very late and we unfortunately did not know about the grant until the week before the due date. We applied for a large amount of bins and since Coca-Cola already does so much with KU and recycling, perhaps they wanted to expand into other schools as well. We would recommend for other groups to utilize this grant or other similar grants in the future. Although the athletics department was helpful, they were not very open to spending much money on an updated recycling program. Receiving a grant would take out most of the cost for the athletics department and the Center for Sustainability was open to helping out more if we were to acquire more bins in the future.

Findings

One of the most important items that we discovered once we met with the key members of the athletic department was the need for a better recycling bin. The current ones used in Allen 14

Fieldhouse are constantly used as a „table‟ for spectators who decide to purchase food or drinks.

These customers typically set down their drink or hotdog while putting away their money or while waiting for another person to finish in line. Therefore, when taken by these specific guests as a „table‟, other guests are unable to notice or even recycle their current items. Another issue with these bins is that they are inconvenient to handle and to move around in order for the staff to recycle them in their respectable places. These bins are also smaller in size and are unable to hold a larger volume that can be produced on bigger game days. With such a small size, the staff is forced to empty the bins more often in order to prevent the recycling bins from overfilling.

Another important feature that we recently found out was that, within Allen Fieldhouse, there is a lack of space to put extra bins to increase the recycling. This lack of space comes from certain fire codes that need to be adhered to in order to prevent specific fire hazards for the guests and athletes themselves.

Within the football stadium, we found that the only recycling currently being done is with paper in the press boxes and the staff has difficulties dealing with and handling the volume of the waste that can be produced on big games days. Similar to the basketball stadium, there is currently no room to store the recyclables near the stadium and it is also time and labor intensive for the staff to move these items during home games. For outside the stadium recycling, Cans for

Community does get involved and sends volunteers to help clean up the parking lots and tailgate areas, but, unfortunately, they are not associated with the university or athletic department.

The baseball stadium is actually the only area that currently has no system set up for recycling. If certain bins were added to the stadium to collect plastic bottles, the bins would need to be removed immediately due to back-to-back games and practices. The bins could be placed in the handicapped seating areas, which do not get a lot of visitors due to the smaller venue and 15 turnout. But this could become problematic if there was a larger crowd, possibly due to a rival as an opponent or the season opener. As with all of the other stadiums, the need for a clean and unspoiled area around the recycling bins is a must for the athletic department. They stressed how important it was to them to keep the areas up to their current standard of a clean environment for the fans and spectators.

Recommendations

Future groups that intend to continue where this project left off must understand the importance of image to KU Athletics. The athletics department believes that they must prioritize a constantly tidy image in order to best represent the university, its students, its alumni, and its fans. By keeping this consideration in mind the next group will be better able to work, accommodate, and compromise with the athletics department.

Recycling bins should be placed within the football stadium and the baseball bleachers.

These would provide convenient places for fans to recycle during a game. It would be preferable that the recycling bins used do not contain flat tops. Flat tops allow people to set food or drinks on them without depositing them into a bin or using a proper trashcan. Flat tops also allow fans to set down their concession stand purchases and loiter in busy stadium areas. Applying for a bin grant again could be helpful in receiving new bins for free. Additionally, it would be a good idea to see if there is a way for leftover concession food to be composted. Composting of concession materials would most likely need to have a same day or next day pick up. This material could ideally be composted by the KU Student Farm or within the KU Field Station.

Marketing will also play a large role in the success of the athletics recycling program.

Any promotional announcement during a game is it visual or audial would be a huge gain for the recycling program. By raising awareness of the program, the public will be more likely and 16 willing to participate. Another large gain for the recycling announcement would be to have the program become endorsed by a coach, athletic director, or players. Additional advertising would provide much needed support and ensure the success and awareness of the program.

To carry out what could potentially become a very burdensome task, many volunteers will be needed. The volunteer force could gain the manpower it needs through the development of an incentive program. This program does not need to be a ticket to the game each time a person serves, but it could be along the lines of if the volunteer serve a specific number of times then that person receives some reward. The volunteer force could also gain the manpower it needs by working with the campus community, including organizations such as the

Sustainability Office and Student Union Activities. The program and the volunteer force would also benefit greatly by the creation of a service learning course or internships in which students could earn credit hours while being fully devoted to the athletics recycling program.

Sources

“About” RecycleMania. Web. April 2012. .

“Athletics Recycling.” Campus Recycling. Oregon State University. Web. Spring 2012. .

Greve, Juergen. Gameday Recycling Student Coordinator. Report. Kansas State, Manhattan, 2011. Print.

"NC State Recycles." NC State Recycles. North Carolina State University. Web. Spring 2012. .

Price, Jay, Environmental Coordinator, “Athletic Recycling.” Message to the author. 20 Feb. 2012. E-mail.

“Recycling.” Facilities Services. The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Web. Spring 2012. .

"The Coca-Cola/KAB Recycling Bin Grant Program." Bin Grant. Coca-Cola/ Keeping America Beautiful, 2012. Web. .

UF Office of Sustainability. "Zero Waste." Sustainable UF. University of Florida. 2012. .

Vydra, Marianne, Senior Associate Athletic Director-International Affairs, “Athletic Recycling.” Message to the author. 15 Feb. 2012. E-mail.

“Zero Waste at Ohio Stadium.” The Ohio State University Sustainability. 2012. Web. .