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: Lauren Jasinski.
Stadium: Spartan Stadium
School: Michigan State University
Built: 1923
Capacity: 75,005
2012 diversion rate: 56.3 percent
Scouting report: Michigan State University has 80 recycling containers inside Spartan Stadium during games. Staff handpicks recyclables from the grounds outside stadium gates and on Sunday mornings from tailgating lots.
These efforts produce “anywhere from 3 to 11 thousand pounds per game, which is then brought back to be processed at our Surplus Store and Recycling Facility,” said operations supervisor Dennis Consavage.
The school has also recruited volunteers to hand out bags and literature to fans on how to recycle, he said.