Press Release

ASU Leads Pac-12 In Game Day Zero Waste Challenge

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Arizona State University and Sun Devil Athletics were recognized for its sustainability efforts by participating in the 2014 Game Day Zero Waste Challenge as the Pac-12 Conference announced its membership in the Green Sports Alliance. Among the five categories by which schools are ranked, ASU:• Ranked first within the Pac-12 for the challenge’s recycling and organics reduction categories. • ASU recycled an average of over one pound of waste per person. • Ranked second in the conference for conference diversion rate category• Placed third for greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction• Placed fifth for waste minimization

Published 9 years ago | About a 3 minute read

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Arizona State University and Sun Devil Athletics were recognized for its sustainability efforts by participating in the 2014 Game Day Zero Waste Challenge as the Pac-12 Conference announced its membership in the Green Sports Alliance. Among the five categories by which schools are ranked, ASU:

• Ranked first within the Pac-12 for the challenge’s recycling and organics reduction categories.
• ASU recycled an average of over one pound of waste per person.
• Ranked second in the conference for conference diversion rate category
• Placed third for greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction
• Placed fifth for waste minimization

Universities from across the nation annually compete within their conferences to measure their waste reduction at football games, and each school that participates in the challenge must report data from one game day of the season.

ASU, one of the nine Pac-12 schools that competed this past season, submitted its data based on the Sun Devils’ football game against Washington State.

The Pac-12 Conference office announced today that it has officially joined the Green Sports Alliance (GSA), following the lead of the conference’s 12 institutions, which were already members of GSA. The Pac-12 is the first collegiate sports conference to count all its members as GSA participants.

As members of the GSA, the Conference and university athletics programs have committed to measure their environmental performance, develop strategies and goals to reduce their footprint, monitor progress, and engage fans and communities in the process. Most significantly, the Pac-12 and its members will support one another, and additional GSA members, in their sports greening efforts.

From zero-waste stadiums, to solar powered arenas, to robust student-led green teams, Pac-12 universities are genuine leaders in college sports greening. Spurred by their common membership in the GSA, Pac-12 universities also recently completed the inaugural ‘Pac-12 Zero Waste Challenge’. This first-of-its-kind, conference-wide activation was self-organized by Pac-12 members with the support of the GSA.

The official attendance of the Washington State game, which was the final home football game of the 2014 season, was 51,428. Arizona State reported:

• Waste total of 67,020 pounds
• 51,840 pounds of total recycling – a per-capita recycling rate of 1.008 pounds, which accounts for game-time and pre- and post-game activities
• 39,920 pounds of total organics, and the organics reduction rate was 0.776 lbs. per person
• A greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction of 24.208 per metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions (Total MTCO2E)
• A conference diversion rate (CDR) of 77.350 percent. The CDR measures the amount of recyclables/compostables in relation to total waste. ASU’s CDR rate was second behind the University of Colorado-Boulder.

Top schools in each conference will be recognized at the fifth annual Collegiate Sports Sustainability Summit at Purdue University in June. ASU’s Recycling and Solid Waste Manager, Alana Levine, will represent Arizona State and Sun Devil Athletics.

For a complete list of results, visit the Game Day Challenge’s website:http://gamedaychallenge.org/participating-schools/2014-results/

ABOUT THE GREEN SPORTS ALLIANCE The Green Sports Alliance leverages the cultural and market influence of sports to promote healthy, sustainable communities where we live and play. The nonprofit organization does so by inspiring sports leagues, teams, venues, their partners and millions of fans to embrace renewable energy, healthy food, recycling, water efficiency, species preservation, safer chemicals and other environmentally preferable practices. The Alliance is engaging the global sports industry to encourage measurable actions that enhance venue operations, influence the sports industry supply chain and mobilize fans.

Since launching nationally in March of 2011, the Alliance has grown from 6 teams from 6 leagues to nearly 300 teams, venues and universities from 20 leagues in 14 countries. Currently, 30 NCAA affiliated universities are members of the Alliance.

Visit www.greensportsalliance.org to learn more. Interested in membership? Inquire at [email protected].