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EPA Challenges Colleges to Recycle at Football Games / Agency encourages fans to reduce, reuse, recycle

Release Date: 09/07/2010
Contact Information: Latisha Petteway, petteway.latisha@epa.gov, 202-564-3191, 202-564-4355

WASHINGTON – As part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2010 Game Day Challenge, colleges across the country will compete to see who can reduce, reuse, and recycle the most waste. Registration for the competition is now open and the winning colleges will be announced in November.

Any college or university in the U.S. with a football team can compete, and register through September 30. The challenge is for schools to design a waste reduction plan for one home football game in October and measure the results. Schools can collect common materials for recycling including paper, beverage containers, cardboard, and food to be donated and composted. The amount of waste generated and recycled will determine which school is the greenest.

Schools can win in several categories:
· least amount of waste generated per attendee
· greatest greenhouse gas reductions
· highest recycling rate
· highest organics reduction rate (i.e., food donation and composting)
· highest combined recycling and composting rate.

Winners will be publicized on EPA’s website.

The competition is sponsored by EPA’s WasteWise program, a voluntary program through which organizations eliminate costly municipal solid waste and select industrial wastes, benefiting their bottom line and the environment. Launched in 1994, the program has more than 2,700 members.

To register for the Game Day Challenge: https://my.re-trac.com/gameday

More information on the Game Day Challenge: http://epa.gov/gameday/

More information on WasteWise program: https://www.epa.gov/epawaste/partnerships/wastewise/index.htm

Learn more about the Game Day Challenge on Challenge.gov, a new online platform that empowers the federal government to bring the best ideas and top talent to bear on our nation’s most pressing problems. On Challenge.gov, entrepreneurs, leading innovators and citizen solvers can provide novel solutions to tough problems and, at the same time, take pride in engaging with their government to advance national priorities. Challenge.gov is the latest milestone in the administration’s commitment to use challenges to spur innovation by tapping into the wisdom and experience of the American people.