New IU Athletics initiative turn Big Ten green

The IU Athletics Department has joined forces with the Office of Sustainability to attempt to become the “greenest” Big Ten athletic department in the nation.
It’s the Greening Cream and Crimson initiative.

During the football tailgate this weekend, the Greening Cream and Crimson volunteers will be in white T-shirts, handing out trash bags and promoting sustainability. The program began in spring 2010  and continues to educate fans about what they can do to help the environment.

Senior John Hageman is an Office of Sustainability intern working with IU Athletics, and he said he knows the initiative will be a challenge.

“Students are not thinking, ‘Let’s ecycle this beer can,’” Hageman said. “They are thinking, ‘Let’s get wasted,’ and we know it will be a process.”

Hageman and other volunteers passed out clear trash bags for recycling and black trash bags for garbage at the tailgate Saturday while telling fans what they can and can’t recycle.

Greening Cream and Crimson also encourages alternate forms of transportation for fans by offering a bike valet on the East Concourse near gates E1 and E2.

For their first event of the year Saturday, Hageman said the volunteers did well.

The fans were encouraged to recycle and then leave their bags in the tailgate fields for the volunteers to pick up. Hageman picked up many full bags in the fields toward the end of the game.

“This year we’re really trying to target those tailgate fields because that is where most of the recyclables that aren’t captured are located,” Hageman said.

Senior Kara Gentry has attended tailgates and said she has seen the
aftermath.

“After the game, the tailgate fields are absolutely disgusting, and it is embarrassing,” Gentry said. “If you drive past an hour later, there are mounds of trash
everywhere.”

Greening Cream and Crimson attempts to educate students to help increase the amount of recycling. Hageman said IU is trying to promote and implement sustainable efforts, and the athletic department needs to lead this goal of being
sustainable.

Chris Reynolds, senior associate athletics director for regulatory affairs, coordinates the sustainability efforts for the athletics department. Reynolds said the athletics department is a highly visible unit on campus.

“This presents a unique opportunity for our sustainability practices to gain recognition, not only within the IU community, but also on a conference and national level,” Reynolds said.

Student volunteers are what make this program possible, Reynolds said. That is why Greening Cream and Crimson has created a new student organization this summer for dedicated students to work directly with the athletics department.

“Without the support of the students, we’re not able to reach our goals and become the greenest athletics department in the Big Ten,” Hageman said.

The student organization is for people who are really looking to get heavily involved on a leadership level, Hageman said.

It was launched to directly reach out to the undergraduate base.

“I think IU is already pretty environmentally aware, so it makes sense for this to be the next step,” Gentry said.

Reynolds said the Athletics Department aims to preserve Bloomington’s habitat. This is done by implementing sustainable practices, but Reynolds said it goes even further than that.

“It also strives to help others preserve our environment by providing the information and the tools to equip people to become better stewards of our natural resources,” Reynolds said.

Gentry said she thinks recycling at tailgates will be a difficult task for Greening Cream and Crimson, but she said it could really help.

“If there was an option to throw a cardboard box of Natty Ice in the recycling, I can’t guarantee students would do it, but it would really help to show that we are making the effort,” Gentry said.

Greening Cream and Crimson volunteers will be visible at the tailgate Saturday. There are volunteers in the field as well as inside the stadium during the game to promote recycling.

“For the next tailgate, we’d really like to increase student volunteers that come out,” Hageman said.