CU Boulder’s Folsom Field To Become 1st Zero-Waste Stadium

The University of Colorado (CU) has announced a bold new initiative to make Folsom Field, home of the CU-Boulder Buffaloes, the first zero-waste football stadium in the country. Titled “Ralphie’s Green Stampede,” the program is the first of its kind to be launched at a NCAA Bowl Championship Series stadium.

The zero-waste recycling and composting program was launched at the start of the 2008 CU Boulder football season. CU aims to channel all food and beverage containers, as well as other stadium debris, to recycling and composting bins. “We will be eliminating trash cans at our stadium,” said CU athletic director Mike Bohn. To help achieve this goal, concession stands will use containers that can be recycled or composted.

Impressive Numbers

CU's Green Stampede may make their football stadium a zero-waste facility.

Since the start of the program, 40 tons of recyclables and compostables from football games have been collected. The compostable food and biodegradable material will be used to benefit campus landscaping programs. This represents a 199 percent increase over the previous year, when an average of 10 tons of garbage were being sent to landfills per game. Now, about 80 percent of all waste material generated from the games is diverted from the landfills, through reuse, recycling or composting.

Another first for Folsom Field was the recycling of fry oil from food production. More than 300 gallons of fry oil was refined into biodiesel fuel for use in CU Boulder’s bus fleet.

Dave Newport, CU Boulder environmental center director, calls the Green Stampede a “runaway success.” “In our first year, we shattered all previous recycling records, drastically cut our sports events environmental footprint and set the stage for continuous improvement toward a completely sustainable process,” said Newport.

Looking Forward

CU-Boulder officials plan to build off the success of 2008’s Green Stampede program for next year’s zero-waste goal. They plan to purchase carbon offsets from the Colorado Carbon Fund to match the energy use associated with game days. They will even offer a bicycle corral in the stadium, with volunteer bicycle valets, to encourage attendees to bicycle to the game.

Bohn said, “We want to be more than good. We want to be innovative. We want to set the standard for what is intercollegiate athletics at the highest level.”

In 2008, we saw many football programs across the country focus on reducing their environmental impact through innovative recycling programs.