Game Day Challenge Places First in SEC and Eighth in Nation for Collegiate Recycling

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James Brown, athletics building services manager

By Jennifer McArthur, Agricultural Communications Experiential Learning Lab Reporter

FAYETTEVILLE—On Nov. 2, on the day of the Arkansas vs. Auburn football game in Fayetteville, Ark., University of Arkansas Razorback fans gathered to participate in a national collegiate recycling competition called the Game Day Challenge. This was the third year that James Brown, athletics building services manager at the U of A and coordinator of Recycle with the Razorbacks, led the effort to coordinate Razorback participation in the event.

A team of nearly 100 volunteers of students, staff, faculty, and local high school students from Rogers and Fayetteville made this year’s Game Day Challenge one to remember.  The team achieved an amazing 83.8 percent diversion rate, ranking Recycle with the Razorbacks program first place in the SEC conference and eighth in the nation out of 67 schools overall. This was an increase of more 160 percent from last year—a new record for the Recycle with the Razorbacks program.

Brown said he had high hopes for competing in the Game Day Challenge this year, with an ambitious goal of 85 percent diversion rate (the percentage of waste collected as recyclables). His goal was to win a spot among the top five universities in the national competition. With lots of preparation and momentum, Brown’s team knew that this would be the best year yet.

“I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone that helped with our Game Day Challenge.  I feel that our efforts paid off and the event was a success,” said Brown.

The momentum that was created during this challenge will help Recycle with the Razorbacks continue its recycling efforts, said Brown.

“I do not want to lose the momentum and excitement that we have gained through this event,” he said.  “There was an excitement around this event concerning our recycling efforts that I have not seen before.”  

The Game Day Challenge sparked many new ideas for the Recycle with the Razorbacks team, especially ideas concerning how to integrate more recycling into the athletic department. One idea was to form a committee within the Razorback athletic department to coordinate recycling efforts. 

“I think this is a great idea and will be reaching out to a few of you in the near future concerning such a committee,” said Brown, speaking to his Recycle with the Razorbacks team.

In addition to his plans to form a recycling committee, Brown anticipates developing ideas on how to blend recycling into everyday lives of the university’s faculty and students.  According to Brown, the key characteristic leading to the success of the Game Day Challenge and the efforts put forth by the recycling team was team momentum. There was an ample amount of momentum that started the Game Day Challenge, and there is even more momentum in efforts for future recycling, he said.  Now that the challenge is clear and the momentum is steady, Brown and his team are confident that they can work on refining a plan for next year that will secure them a spot in the top five.