On October 29th, Lehigh University participated in its fourth Game Day Challenge event during the Lehigh vs. Fordham home football game. Game Day Challenge is a friendly nationwide competition for colleges and universities to promote waste reduction at football games. The goal of Game Day Challenge is to reduce trash generation inside and outside the stadium and increase recycling rates.
Volunteers in green vests distributed blue recycling bags and black trash bags to all fans in the tailgate areas to promote separation of trash and recyclables. Additionally, volunteers collected recyclables during and after the game and helped fans determine what was recyclable and what wasn’t. The Green Team volunteers also engaged fans with fun recycling games and giveaways.
Game Day Challenge ranks schools based on waste generation, recycling, organics, diversion rate, and greenhouse gas reduction. At this year’s game, 1,960 lbs of trash and 1,140 pounds of recycling were generated. As a result, the waste diversion rate at the game was 36.77%. Next year, Lehigh is setting a goal to have a waste diversion rate of 50-60%!
Until next year, Bleed Brown and White, live green! Go Mountain Hawks!