Sustain Mizzou helps tailgaters recycle

By Jewels Phraner

Published Sept. 18, 2007

MU's first home game brought a win not only for the Tigers but also for the environment.

Sustain Mizzou, an organization devoted to encouraging MU students and faculty to be kinder to the environment, distributed over 700 recycling bags to groups tailgating before Saturday's football game.

The project, Tigers Tailgate Recycling, had student volunteers passing out recycling bags, collecting recycling bags and monitoring all of Sustain Mizzou's 250 recycling containers outside the stadium.

"Fans are very receptive to us," Sustain Mizzou Treasurer Adam Saunders said.

"They look to us to recycle and expect to recycle at games."

In 2005, the group collected 12 tons of recyclable materials during six home games, and in 2006, they collected 19 tons in seven home games.

Project leader Tom Stokely said the organization's real goal is to educate people on recycling rather than cleaning up after tailgaters.

"We're not a pick-up crew," he said.

When volunteers hand out the bags before the game, Sustain Mizzou President Ben Datema said they also try to educate tailgaters.

Saunders said the education is working and fan participation has increased with time.

"Fans do a great job," he said. "We hand out the bags, but they actually put the cans in there."

After the game is over, the "most intense" time for volunteers begins, Datema said.

The group uses three trucks, provided by MU Landscape Services, to collect the bags, sort out anything that can contaminate the recyclables and deliver them to two roll-off dumpsters that can later be taken to the city.

"Contamination is a huge problem," Stokely said. "There is a lot of time we have to spend digging out trash."

Overall, the day was successful, Datema said.

There were many volunteers and a great deal of interest in the project, but the group is always looking for more, Saunders said.

"Environmental sustainability, as a whole, is gaining momentum," Datema said. "Our group, as a whole, is growing."