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AT RENTSCHLER

UConn Going Green At The Rent

By JEFF OTTERBEIN

The Hartford Courant

September 11, 2009

First step, inside the stadium. Then maybe out into the tailgating area in the parking lots.

UConn and Sodexo, which operates concessions at Rentschler Field, are implementing a recycling program this season, starting with Saturday's home opener against North Carolina.

"We're focusing on the inside this year because it is a smaller area and more controlled," said Jay Martin, operations manager for Northland AEG, which runs Rentschler Field. "The outside is very tough to control. We want to educate people before turning them loose."

There will be recycling bins in every suite and throughout the concourses for bottles and cans, which get hauled away by Windsor Sanitation. Food waste will be recycled and end up at Global Environmental Services. Cooking oil from fryers will be turned into biodiesel fuel, all of which remains in the state. EcoHusky, a student group that puts on events and spreads awareness about environmental issues, will help educate people about the program on game days. There also will be messages on the videoboard. Working with the Sodexo staff will be staff from the Northeast Recycling Council and Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection.

Other Division I-A schools have developed similar programs. The University of Colorado-Boulder, which began a program last season, also concentrated on the inside.

Last season more than 40 tons of recyclables and compost material came from football games at Folsom Field, according to the UC-Boulder website. About 80 percent of all material generated inside the stadium during most home games never made it to a landfill because of re-use, recycling or composting. This year the plans are even more intense; the program is hoping to reach the 90 percent mark.

More than 300 gallons of cooking oil from concessions at CU-Boulder became biodiesel for the school's bus fleet. Composting material was used in campus landscaping.

"This is all about doing the right thing, and people respond to that," said Dave Newport, director of the CU-Boulder Environmental Center.

Newport said start-up costs were about $20,000, but the program more than covered that. He said donors stepped up with more money because they supported the initiative, and environmentally friendly companies in Boulder have contributed cash or services.

Martin would not reveal the start-up costs for the Rentschler program, but he said there will be savings, too. For one thing, not as much trash needs to be hauled away. Sodexo is also beginning to phase in biodegradable food containers.

Newport said CU-Boulder has not tried zero waste in the tailgating areas because there is so much more that cannot be controlled, but added the school is looking at ways to do more there, too.

"It's not easy work, but it's rewarding work," Newport said. "At the end of the day, you've done something."

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