Zero waste produced at basketball game

Spectators might have talked trash about Cornell at the Palestra Saturday night, but they didn’t throw any away.

All garbage was either composted or recycled at Penn’s first Zero-Waste Basketball Game.

The event was part of RecycleMania — an eight-week recycling competition between universities nationwide.

Penn Athletics and Green Campus Partnerships ensured that all food packaging sold at the game was either recyclable or compostable. All beverages were served in recyclable bottles, and food was served in compostable cardboard trays instead of the typical foil packaging.

Bins usually reserved for trash were transformed into compost bins for the night, and Eco-Reps were on hand to help attendees sort their waste, Environmental Sustainability Coordinator Dan Garofalo said.

After the game a clean-up crew collected recyclable and compostable materials that had been left behind in the stands, said Keith Maurer, assistant director of Facilities and Operations for the Department of Recreation and Intercollegiate Athletics.

The zero-waste game was a pilot for administrators to learn how to organize composting at a large-scale venue other than a cafeteria, manager of Marketing for Penn Athletics Josh Craggs said. “If you can do it in the Palestra, that would prove you can do it in other places around campus,” he added.

Penn Athletics made a one-time deal with a hauler to take compostable materials to the Wilmington Organic Recycling Center to be weighed and composted that night, Garofalo said.

“There are thousands of people around the University doing experiments,” and this event was one of them, he added.

The event was also designed to educate attendees in the hopes that they will bring their new knowledge of recycling and composting to their homes and workplaces, Maurer said.

“A lot of people don’t realize how much is compostable,” he said. “They typically think of leaves, banana peels and orange peels,” instead of cardboard in which food is served.

Garofalo said they chose Saturday’s game with Cornell because it was of the best-attended games of the season, with 6,874 people in attendance. It was Penn’s last home basketball game of the season, as well as a Feb Club event for seniors, a Volunteer Appreciation Night and Greeks at the Palestra, where sororities competed in tug-of-war.

Because of the diverse types of people at the game, “it was a good opportunity for students to influence the older generations,” Craggs said.

Although many in attendance were unaware what “zero-waste” entailed, they were impressed when they heard it announced during the game. “The University talks a lot about reducing its carbon footprint, and it’s great to see that they’re working to insert recycling into all parts of campus life” said College senior Darby Nelson, former Panhellenic Council president. “We should be proud that we were able to produce absolutely no waste at a Saturday night basketball game.”

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