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The PAC-12 conference, in partnership with the Green Sports Alliance, announces the winners of its fall 2016 Zero-Waste Bowl competitions. The Men’s and Women’s Final Fours were contested on sustainably harvested hardwood courts. And Flying Disc sports (i.e. Ultimate Frisbee) makes its first GSB appearance as the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) hires its first sustainability director.
PAC-12 ZERO WASTE BOWL WINNERS
The Pac-12 Zero Waste Bowl aimed to determine which school could divert the most waste from the landfill at a selected football (or other men’s or women’s) home game during the Fall 2016 sports season, as well as which one used the most innovative methods to expand the reach and impact of the competition. It provides a friendly and spirited platform for the schools’ athletics departments and other groups to engage on best practices in athletics waste diversion and to learn how each campus strives toward zero waste goals.
In addition to the overall waste diversion rate, the universities were scored on innovation, partnership and participation, as well as fan engagement. A panel of four independent judges determined the results.
Fall 2016 Pac-12 Zero Waste Bowl Challenge Final Results:
- 1st Place: University of Southern California achieved a diversion rate of 94 percent
- 2nd Place: Arizona State University: 93 percent
- 3rd Place: University of Colorado, Boulder: 87 percent
- Honorable Mention #1: University of Washington: 75 percent
- Honorable Mention #2: University of Arizona: 70 percent
The Los Angeles Coliseum is now Zero Waste for USC football (Photo credit: Neil Leifer)
Finally, the judges awarded three Pac-12 universities with special awards for Most Improved (USC), Fan Engagement (Stanford), and Athlete/Player Engagement (Oregon State).
Stanford’s Cardinal Green fan-centric program, part of a nationwide Gameday Challenge to see which participating school could reduce waste the most, won points for its comprehensiveness. It reached out to a multitude of stakeholders to encourage recycling and composting at one football game, one men’s basketball game and one women’s basketball game. Students, season-ticket holders, single-game ticket holders, employees, gameday staff, volunteers and more were engaged. The communications effort was clever and deep, both in the tailgate area and especially in the stadium and arena:
- The Stanford marching band made sustainability and Zero-Waste a theme of one of their vignettes during halftime of the football game.
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A Stanford-produced video (“All About No Waste at Stanford”, a musical parody based on Meghan Trainor’s “All About that Bass”) was played during halftime.
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The Public Address Announcer discussed Game Day Challenge information twice towards beginning of game, encouraging fans to properly sort their waste.
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Sustainability facts were displayed on the main scoreboard about once per quarter.
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Compostable bags and half-page flyers showing what to compost and where compost bins are located were distributed to tailgaters.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKo0XXiWGVM&w=560&h=315]
“All About No Waste” video (3:12) was shown at halftime of the 2016 Gameday Challenge football game at Stanford Stadium.
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Reduce Food Waste in Valley Performance Center (where the players eat their meals): Introduced composting and increased recycling.
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Create Awareness Around Sustainability and to Build Bridges Between Campus and the Community: Launched the #BeavsRecycle Campaign with Oregon State Campus Recycling to create an awareness of recycling throughout campus as well as the student-athletes’ commitment to the environment
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Foster a More Sustainable Experience at Sporting Event: Collect unused or disposed of giveaway items at football and basketball games for recycling. Educate fans about recycling at baseball games.
According to Ms. Cavanaugh, the BAST program is a natural outgrowth of the already deeply embedded sustainable/green culture at Oregon State: “Many of my teammates have become passionate about being sure to sort their waste because of the culture here at OSU.”
Oregon State University student-athletes share why they’ve joined the Beaver Athlete Sustainability Team or BAST in this video (1:43)
MEN’S AND WOMEN’S FINAL FOURS PLAYED ON SUSTAINABLY HARVESTED WOOD FLOORS
While South Carolina and North Carolina are deservedly being hailed for winning the 2017 NCAA Women’s and Men’s National Championships, respectively, the courts they won on merit kudos as well.
You see, the hardwood floors at American Airlines Center in Dallas, site of the Women’s Final Four, and University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, AZ, host of the Men’s Final Four, were made from wood sustainably harvested from The Nature Conservancy’s Two Hearted River Forest Reserve in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Connor Sports, the Official Court Provider of the NCAA, single-sourced all the timber from Sugar Maple trees in the TNC’s Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified forest in the Upper Peninsula.
“Our goal at Connor Sports is to provide our NCAA customer with the best possible court products using responsible forestry practices,” said Jason Gasperich, Director of Sustainability for Connor Sports. “This unique method…mark[s] the first-time Connor Sports has single-sourced all the timber for a customer project from one forest, and Sugar Maple trees are the industry’s most prized species known for their durability, strength and light coloring.”
The Two-Hearted River Forest Reserve spans approximately 24,000 acres. Sustainable forestry practices include ecological thinning, selectively cutting trees to improve the health of the forest that are also economically viable. Thirty-five acres of the Reserve were sustainably harvested to create this year’s championship floors.
[vimeo 208141790 w=640 h=360]
JOHANNA VON TOGGENBURG NAMED SUSTAINABILITY DIRECTOR OF WORLD FLYING DISC FEDERATION (WFDF)
GreenSportsBlog has never reported on the world of Ultimate Frisbee and other flying disk sports. Until today, that is.
That is because Johanna Von Toggenburg, who has played and coached ultimate frisbee, and currently works for the United Nations on the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, has been named the first Sustainability Director of the World Flying Disk Federation (WFDF).
Johanna Von Toggenburg, new Sustainability Director for the World Flying Disk Federation. (Photo credit: SwitchMed)
She played Ultimate in Britain, France, Belgium, Italy and the United States, competed at the European Ultimate Championships in 2007 in England, and also helped found the Lebanon Flying Disc Association when she moved to that country in 2015.
“My vision for this role is to develop transparent assessment mechanisms with practical recommendations to ensure activities carried out by WFDF and its members are done in a sustainable manner,” said Von Toggenburg, “I am excited about combining my profession and passion in order to mainstream sustainable practices into all aspects of flying disc sports worldwide.”
WFDF President Robert Rauch welcomed Von Toggenburg into the role and says she will hit the ground running to improve the environmental performance andgovernance and of the organization.
“The appointment of Johanna von Toggenburg as our first ever sustainability marks another important step in fulfilling our commitment to the environment and to stage sustainable world events and make sure that WFDF operates under best of class governance procedures,” he said.
“We will now be better equipped to apply our sustainability evaluation tools like the Sustainable Sport Event Toolkit provided by our partner AISTS and ensure that sustainability issues are considered when reviewing applications for our development grant projects.”
^ Pac-12 schools: Arizona, Arizona State, Cal-Berkeley, Colorado, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Utah, Washington, Washington State
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