Consumer Behavior Change Circular Economy Collaboration & Co-Creation

The Game within a Game:
Eastman, UTenn, UMich Compete for a Common Good

Together, Eastman and the two teams helped turn the spirit of competition into a unique approach to diverting waste, keeping recycling top of mind and driving behavior change with football fans.

Sponsored Content | This article is sponsored by Eastman | By Eastman | Published 2 years ago | About a 1 minute read

Image: University of Tennessee

In 2022, Eastman set a world record for the World's Largest College Recycling Event with the University of Tennessee's “Good Sports Always Give Back” program by recycling 38,452 pounds of game day waste. This year, we set out to go bigger: We challenged the University of Michigan for a winner-takes-all recycling throw-down between UTenn's Neyland Stadium and UMich's The Big House on September 23, 2023.

Tennessee fans competed to recycle the most game day waste in a single day, resulting in another impressive record-breaking display by recycling 44,950 pounds of waste.

At the end of the day, 200,000+ fans from Tennessee and Michigan helped divert a combined total of 85,211 pounds of game-day waste through a combination of recycling plastic, aluminum, paper products, cardboard, wooden pallets, composting and food donations.

Together, Eastman, The University of Tennessee and The University of Michigan helped turn the spirit of competition into a unique approach to divert waste, keep recycling top of mind, drive behavior change and bring everyone together for a common good. Just like the football games that set the stage for this competition, our individual impacts are amplified when we come together as a team.

Keep the competition going and start your own recycling challenge.