After noticing the large amount of unnecessary waste accumulated at Winthrop’s homecoming tailgating event, the Office of Sustainability decided to take action. Every year during Winthrop’s homecoming before the men’s basketball game, Winthrop students tailgate in celebration of Winthrop and to show their school spirit. Although the event is well intentioned and a time for fun, a tremendous amount of waste accumulates throughout the day of tailgating, and if it wasn’t for Winthrop’s Office of Sustainability all of the waste would end up in the landfill.
“We have been recycling at homecoming since 2012. The Office of Sustainability recognized that a tremendous amount of waste was being generated during the tailgating event… In addition while Winthrop does not have football we took a que from the Game Day Challenge where universities compete to reduce and recycle our waste,” Chris Johnson, Winthrop’s sustainability coordinator, said.
The GameDay Recycling Challenge (GDRC) is a nationwide competition among universities to reduce and recycle waste at football games or in Winthrop’s case, the men’s basketball game during homecoming.
“The challenge is educating people about what is recyclable and what it is not. For instance, solo cups are not recyclable because they are polystyrene, or a #6, and these cups make up a large percentage of the waste. We can only recycle plastic bottles and paper. Volunteers pulling the recyclable from the trashcan sort much of the material collected, including glass, which is sorted separately by color. This is supposed to be a no–glass event as stated in the tailgating policy,” Johnson said.
The Office of Sustainability heavily relies on student volunteers to help hold students and Rock Hill community members accountable to recycle while they are tailgating. The Office of Sustainability is currently recruiting people to help sort the recyclables the day of the tailgating event. Anyone who is interested in helping out can contact the Office of Sustainability or go to Winthrop’s online volunteer tracker, EAGLEimpact, to sign up for a shift. Groups and teams of volunteers are welcome and encouraged to come out.
Ultimately, according to Johnson, recycling is extremely important to the environment and the economy.
“Recycling is critical to reducing our waste and consumption of natural resources. In addition, according to a study commissioned in 2014 by the SC Department of Commerce, recycling contributes $13 billion to South Carolina’s economy,” Johnson said.
Recycling at the tailgating event at homecoming has drastically lessoned the amount of waste that goes to the landfill from this event. According to Johnson, many people are aware that Winthrop recycles at the tailgating event. Winthrop now even collaborates with the City of Rock Hill, which provides banners to show where the recycling bins are located.
“… we average about 25 to 30 large bags of recyclables, or approximately 750 lbs., in 2016 and 2017. Because we cannot co–mingle glass with plastic and metal containers, we have collected three roll carts of glass, approximately 600 lbs., the past two years. Before removing glass, we collected and estimated 1,100 lbs. during homecoming. This doesn’t include the cardboard collected that usually fits the bed of a small pickup truck or an estimated 200 lbs.,” Johnson said.
Overall, the Office of Sustainability has been making a large difference when it comes to waste accumulated during the homecoming tailgating event. If the Office of Sustainability didn’t recycle, the amount of waste accumulated at the tailgating event would be extremely large.
“If we did not recycle at this event, we would send 50 to 60 large bags of waste to the landfill, or an estimated 4 tons of waste,” Johnson said.
This year at the homecoming tailgating event, the Office of Sustainability encourages students and community members to seek out recycling bins and make a strong effort to recycle items that can be recycled. If anyone has any questions about what to recycle, they can always ask one of the many volunteers who will be at the tailgating event.
