Go Green on Game Days kick off
By Cara Kelly
Special correspondent

Black and gold are not the only colors on some students’ and faculty’s minds on Appalachian State’s game days.

Housing and Residence Life’s Go Green on Game Days campaign has inspired many Appalachian fans to think green for home games.

“This year before football season, [housing and residence staff] started thinking about what we can do to get a big interest or promotion this year,” Brad Smith, faculty maintenance supervisor of housing and residence life, said about the origin of the Go Green campaign.

Turning to one of the most popular events on campus, the housing life staff decided game days were perfect for gaining campus interest.

“Housing and residence life is taking an aggressive approach at sustainability as a whole, this is just one of those programs,” Smith said.

The Go Green on Game Days campaign is primarily concerned with gathering plastic bottles and other recyclables that would have been thrown away instead of recycled after fans leave the stadium and tailgating spots.

At the end of the first home game, seven volunteers collected 16 60-gallon trash bags full of recyclables, approximately 30 to 40 percent of the recyclable material scattered around campus.

For the second game, 23 volunteers covered the entire stadium, gathering 56 bags or nearly 300 pounds of empty bottles.

“The interesting part is that people at first were giving us their trash, until we told them what we were doing,” Smith said about the first two home games. “By the third game, we began having people bring us their bottles and saying ‘Oh, we’ve been looking for you!’”

To date, the volunteers for the Go Green campaign have collected more than 3,000 pounds of plastic recyclables.

Smith believes the campaign has helped the campus with more than just the recyclables being collected.

Raising awareness and educating people is another benefit of cleaning up after home games.

“It’s been a good opportunity for us to educate people and get a little notoriety and participation from students,” Smith said.

Smith and his partners hope to expand the program for the next football season.

More planning and coordination between the athletics department and residence life are Smith’s current goals, but increase in student participation is his main priority.

The group of cleaners meets outside the home entrance of the stadium after games. For more information, contact Brad Smith at smithbn@appstate.edu or visit www.housing.appstate.edu.