The University of Virginia has won two awards for its plan to reduce the waste generated at football games.
UVA snagged first place in both reducing greenhouse gas emissions and recycling in the Environmental Protection Agency's 2011 Game Day Challenge.
More than 75 U.S. colleges competed by designing their own waste reduction plans for one regular season home football game. Competitors then measured their results and submitted them to EPA.
The plans focused on both decreasing waste generated at a game, and increasing participation in waste reduction programs.
The complete list of winners is below:
- Waste Minimization Champion (least amount of waste generated per attendee): Central Connecticut State University
- Diversion Rate Champion (highest combined recycling and composting rate): University of California, Davis
- Greenhouse Gas Reduction Champion (greatest greenhouse gas reductions from diverting waste): University of Virginia
- Recycling Champion (highest recycling rate): University of Virginia
- Organics Reduction Champion (highest organics reduction rate): Marist College
The schools -- including 2.7 million fans -- "diverted more than 500,000 pounds of waste from football games" in total, the EPA said in a press release.
They also prevented the release of nearly 810 metric tons of carbon dioxide, equivalent to the annual emissions from 159 passenger vehicles.
