Green Gridirons: Ohio State University

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. Stadium: Ohio Stadium

School: Ohio State University

Built: 1922

Capacity: 102,329

2012 diversion rate: 87.2 percent

Scouting report: Ohio State claims to have the largest stadium to have achieved zero waste, something that requires a 90 percent diversion rate or more. Ohio Stadium’s highest diversion rate was 98.2 percent, against Illinois on Nov.

Green Gridirons: Rutgers University

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. Stadium: High Point Solutions Stadium

School: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey*

Built: 1994

Capacity: 52,454

2012 diversion rate: 52.4 percent

Scouting Report: On Oct. 27, 2012, Rutgers achieved a 94.6 percent diversion rate during a game against Kent State University, the fourth highest rate recorded nationwide.

Green Gridirons: Penn State University

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. Stadium: Beaver Stadium

School: Penn State University

Built: 1960

Capacity: 106,572

2009 diversion rate: 48.6 percent

Scouting report: Penn State has been recycling at Beaver Stadium for almost 16 years, but a recent initiative to promote recycling helped the university more than triple its recycling average. Since 2008, Penn State has diverted more than 100 tons of trash from landfills from Beaver Stadium, university officials said.

Porous pavement is slowly catching on

Porous pavement allows rainwater to flow through and reach the soil below, helping clear ice and snow in the winter and reduce polluted runoff from surface streets.

It has already been used in cities like Ann Arbor, Battle Creek and Detroit.