A football stadium may have green grass but does it have green habits? Each week, Great Lakes Echo highlights a Big Ten football stadium’s attempts to do the most to impact the environment the least.
All schools have information on the stadium’s diversion rate – the amount of waste recycled instead of put in a landfill.
Photo: Flickr/John Kaminski.
Stadium: Byrd Stadium
School: University of Maryland*
Built: 1950
Capacity: 54,000
2008 diversion rate: 41 percent
Scouting report: Maryland’s “Feed the Turtle” program began in 2008 to expand food composting and recycling at home football games. The program’s name refers to the mascot of the school, a terrapin.
The stadium now features custom built containers made out of recycled plastic to collect recyclables and food waste. An extensive solid waste collection in tailgate lots also began with the program. Throughout the season, nearly 59 tons of solid waste was kept out of landfills. After the overwhelming success, it was expanded to include basketball games in 2009.
*Maryland and Rutgers will officially join the Big Ten Conference starting in the 2014-15 academic year.