For some, tailgating is what you do to unwind. Not these Idaho Vandals. How do they tailgate?With exuberance and ferocity - and a fierce desire to win. What does it mean to win at a tailgate? Does it mean means having the best time, eating the most hot dogs, throwing up the most throw-up? That breed of tailgater might finish a beer and not know what happens next. (I'm talking about the post-beer container, instead of giving it the ol' college try and running on the field or the inevitable job search.) No, the University Of Idaho Sustainability Center is making sure the glass and aluminum doesn't end up in the landfill. Check the latest update from Alecia Hoene.


Students Score Big for Recycling at Vandal Football Tailgate Events
Written by Alecia Hoene
 
MOSCOW, Idaho – Amidst the tailgate revelry at University of Idaho football games, a group of devoted student volunteers endeavors to keep the Kibbie Dome parking lot clean and green.
 
The University of Idaho Sustainability Center is administering its second annual Tailgate Recycling Program this fall, a student-run effort to reduce waste associated with tailgate activities. Student volunteers supply fans with recycling bags and disperse receptacles throughout the parking lot to collect aluminum, plastic, glass and paper recyclables.
 
“After three home games, 74 volunteers have collected almost 1,500 pounds of recyclables, including 479 pounds of aluminum and 945 pounds of glass,” said Joe Nickels, sustainability planner at the UISC.

Without recycling, these materials would be collected and transported directly to landfills. The UISC works with Moscow Recycling to ensure that all materials are properly sorted and transported to the Recycling Center, thereby extending the life cycle of the materials.
 
Volunteers also share information about how and what to recycle, empowering fans to show their Vandal pride by keeping the parking lot clean and reducing the waste stream.
 
The ground work for the Tailgate Recycling Program was established by a student group as part of a project management class in the College of Business and Economics. UISC student staff used this framework to pilot the recycling program in fall 2009.
 
To get involved in Vandal Tailgate Recycling, contact UISC Volunteer Coordinator Katie Tribley at uisc-volunteers@uidaho.edu or (509) 630-9620.
 
For more information about the university’s sustainability efforts, contact the University of Idaho Sustainability Center at uisc@uidaho.edu or visit www.uidaho.edu/sustainability. 

Alecia Hoene, University of Idaho Environmental Science Program, (208) 885-6113, hoene@uidaho.edu

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