Go Green for Big Red volunteers have made it their mission to divert game-day waste from the landfill. So far, the members have succeeded 鈥� recycling nearly three-quarters of the waste at Memorial Stadium in 2013-14.
The recycling initiative was introduced in 2009 when Prabhakar Shrestha, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln sustainability coordinator, saw a need for controlling waste from tailgates and other game-day activities. Every home football game UNL Recycling and several volunteers walk around Memorial Stadium handing out green plastic bags to tailgaters as part of the Go Green for Big Red program.
鈥淭here鈥檚 just a huge amount of waste at the tailgate parties,鈥� said Brent Johannes, the UNL Recycling coordinator. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what we鈥檙e targeting. It鈥檚 become an establishment. I imagine in the early days, it was news to all the tailgaters, but now, they all expect it. They know who we are, and it鈥檚 usually received pretty well.鈥�
Colton Berck, a second-year recycling coordinator, said the reaction to providing recycling bags has been very positive. The program tries to make recycling as easy as possible, he said. 鈥�(The green bags) are really visible, and it鈥檚 a nice, symbolic thing to see,鈥� Berck said. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e tailgating, and you don鈥檛 have one, and you see all your neighboring tailgaters have it, it鈥檚 like … 鈥榃hy am I not doing this? How do I get these?鈥欌��
After the game, tailgaters leave the bags in the parking lots for UNL Recycling and volunteers to pick up later. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the easiest possible way to recycle,鈥� Berck said.
The program has enlisted more volunteers each year and hopes to continue growing, according to Berck. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a great way for us to be represented in the community,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a need for it; there are tons of people on campus who want to recycle. A lot of the things we do are really student-led; we get to the heart of what students want.鈥�
Johannes said that with a 51 percent waste diversion rate in 2015, UNL students have made sustainability a priority. 鈥淭hose sheer statistics are a pretty big impact,鈥� Johannes said.
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