LSU football fans placed first in the GameDay Recycling Challenge, a competition which engages thousands of football fans in waste reduction each fall. LSU won for the second year in a row with 78,200 lbs. recycled.
“LSU receiving back-to-back EPA GameDay Challenge awards can be directly attributed to the efforts of Campus Sustainability and our students, faculty and staff to become a leader among its peers in higher education sustainability and recycling,” said Tammy Millican, executive director for facility and property oversight, in a press release.
The competition included 78 schools attempting to reduce gameday waste while promoting composting and recycling. Over 243 games, the schools recycled, composted or donated 2,667,845 lbs. — a 4.8 percent increase over the 2015 season.
The other winners were Ohio University and Eastern Washington University, who tied in the diversion rate category, which measures recycling/organics recovery as percent of total trash, with 95.6 percent.
“Winning this nationwide challenge two years in a row tells me that we are doing something right in diverting more waste from the landfill during our football games. This second-year win is also so encouraging for our overall sustainability program, and to the students, faculty and staff who are committed to making LSU a greener university,” said Sarah Temple, the campus sustainability manager.