Source: Zack Pistora, zackp@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Kayela Richard, 785-532-1546, media@k-state.edu

Friday, Nov. 5, 2010

K-STATE PURPLE GOES GREEN WITH GAME DAY RECYCLING

MANHATTAN -- Making Bill Snyder Family Stadium more environmentally friendly is the goal behind Kansas State University's Game Day Recycling project.

"I encourage people to participate and support Game Day Recycling because it's a way to responsibly enjoy our K-State game day experience," said Zack Pistora, senior in political science from Tonganoxie, a student co-founder of the recycling program. Pistora also is current president of K-State's Students for Environmental Action.

K-State participated in the Environmental Protection Agency's Game Day Challenge Oct. 30. The competition promotes waste reduction at college football games. K-State is among the 87 schools in the challenge, with results to be announced in mid-November. For the challenge, K-State collected 16.12 tons of trash, 440 pounds of glass and 390 pounds of aluminum. Still to be determined is the amount of plastic collected.

Pistora said he was happy with the outcome of the challenge, but encourages fans to do more at the Saturday, Nov. 6, game against Texas.

K-State's Game Day Recycling started in 2008 when a group of K-State students worked with K-State's Division of Facilities and K-State Athletics to make recycling possible at home football games.

"Recycling at the football games not only helps keep our football stadium and tailgating lots cleaner, but it helps our campus reduce its negative impact on the environment by saving landfill space," Pistora said.

People can participate by cleaning their tailgate area and stadium seating section. More than 70 percent of the trash in the stadium is recyclable, and up to two tons of trash is recycled per game, Pistora said.

"The way I see it, the 50,000-plus fans who attend the home games can recycle much more effectively than a 50-person crew picking up everyone else's leftovers," he said.

Fans can get a blue bag at the Texas game to put their recyclables in. Recycling bins also are available in and around the stadium.

"We distribute blue bags to tailgaters to recycle their plastic, aluminum and glass beverage containers, and then pick up the same recycling materials inside the stadium after the game," Pistora said. "On the Sundays following the games, we sort through all the collected bags at the K-State recycling center, separating the recyclables from the non-recyclables, and putting the final material into recycling stream to be turned back into products as oppose to going to the landfill."

The goal of Students for Environmental Action is to get fans to recycle even more and to have more interaction with tailgaters. "For our last game of the year, lets all give our best effort to be clean and responsible toward the environment while cheering on the Cats," Pistora said.

The university sells the recyclable materials collected, with proceeds going to support custodial recycling services offered through K-State Facilities.

"We're not just recycling for our team and our university, but we're doing our part in helping preserve the environment for our planet, too," Pistora said.

More information on K-State's Game Day Recycling is available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q19i3wnqLc.