Oregon Athletics’ Green Team

These days many people want to be part of Oregon Athletics in some way. With that in mind, the department is working with several partners to advance the green efforts around the department and the events hosted at and by Oregon Athletic facilities.

Oregon Athletics is one of the inaugural intercollegiate athletic members of the Green Sports Alliance. Formed in 2011, the alliance is a Portland-based non-profit that helps sports teams, venues and leagues achieve their environmental goals by sharing best practices and strategies. The University of Oregon was featured in “Fields of Green” in the January in-flight magazine for Alaska Airlines for the environmental and sustainable efforts of the UO Athletic Department.

The department has an internal sustainability committee, its mission being: “to foster awareness and create a culture of commitment to minimizing our environmental impact.” The department has provided office work stations with co-mingle containers that simulate curb-side recycling efforts practiced at home. Plus, common areas have recycling bins for beverage containers only and compost receptacles for additional diversion efforts.

With the football season drawing massive crowds, the department is also active in recycling efforts outside of the offices. The Moshofsky Center’s “indoor tailgating experience” provides a three-bin collection system for recycling, composting and landfill. The diversion rate (products not going to the landfill) for the 2012 football season was 75% (partnership with SaniPac). 

After each football game, clean-up in Autzen Stadium currently involves a two-part process where co-mingle items are pulled out before the remaining product is picked up and hauled away. In 2008 Autzen’s diversion rate was only 19% while in 2012 the division rate for the seating bowl was 48%. With this steady increase, efforts are already underway to further improve the diversion rate in 2013.

Another sustainable football effort involved encouraging parking lot tailgaters to separate their beverage containers from their food items. Local groups handed out dedicated colored-coded bags and later returned to pick up these beverage bags. For the 2012 season, more than 79,500 aluminum, plastic and glass containers were diverted from the landfill and the five cents were returned for local groups’ fundraising efforts through a partnership with the Oregon Beverage Recycling Coop.  

Also, in 2012, 8,748 pounds of Autzen concession food such as hotdogs, pretzels, deli food and popcorn were picked up, repackaged, and redistributed by Food for Lane County, a program existing for over 10 years. A separate, yet significant, related effort with Food for Lane County revolves around the annual Spring Football Scrimmage, where three cans of food are recommended for entry to the annual scrimmage. In 2011, 72,651 pounds of food was collected for this community organization.

Similar to the massive crowds drawn for football season, the 2012 Track and Field Olympic Trials at Hayward Field also attracted hundreds of thousands of people each day and allowed opportunity for green efforts. With the leadership of the Oregon Track Club, the City of Eugene and many others, the event experienced a diversion rate of 78.5%, an increase from the 68% achieved in 2008.

The UO Athletic Department continues to research, improve, and implement new methods for 2013 to keep the UO campus and athletic facilities green, sustainable and successful.

Source: Associate Athletic Director Bob Beals and UO student Chelsea Fullmer