Glad Helps College Football Programs Tackle Waste

The average football game produces 50 to 100 tons of waste, so the Glad Products Co. has collaborated with the non-profit Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education to help college football programs in reducing waste for seasons to come.

Glad is providing a series of grants to AASHE college and university members that are designed to help put new sustainability programs into play. The collaboration also includes ongoing awareness and education around waste-reduction efforts in stadiums and tailgating areas.

To help other teams and tailgaters reduce waste, Glad is expanding its 27-year partnership with Keep America Beautiful to support the organization’s waste-reduction and recycling efforts on more than 150 college campuses. Additionally, Glad has unveiled a grant program for high school stadiums or youth sports leagues’ efforts to reduce waste and aid diversion.

Glad will kick off the AASHE collaboration by helping the University of Southern California and its fans implement waste reduction and diversion practices during pre-game tailgates, where an estimated 80,000 fans will be in attendance.

Glad will help USC tailgaters learn how to take steps to go “One Bag” – working toward the ultimate goal of sending just one bag of trash to landfill, with the rest being diverted to recycling and compost. Moreover, through a Glad grant, USC will implement an EnviroRider – an environmentally conscious production rider that serves as a handbook, presenting eco-friendly options and actions within the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. It outlines in-stadium sustainability practices to be implemented during games for the 2012-13 football season.

Glad has joined forces with eco-conscious actress and mom Ali Larter to help inspire consumers to take small steps against waste. Glad also has developed a One Bag toolkit, available at GladtoWasteLess.com, that provides a how-to guide on planning and executing a waste-conscious event.

Glad is committed to supporting youth sports programs by providing 10 $2,000 grants and counsel from sustainability experts to help youth stadiums or sports leagues’ waste diversion efforts. Entrants will share a brief description of their need and plan to take their high school stadium, community fields or youth sports league to One Bag status. The grant entry period runs through Jan. 31.

Glad is committed to taking small steps against waste, and supports the Environmental Protection Agency’s goal to divert 80 percent of solid waste from landfills by 2020. Glad introduced the new Glad Tall Kitchen trash bag that is stronger, yet uses less plastic. This innovation saves 6.5 million pounds of plastic per year, the equivalent of keeping 140 million extra trash bags out of landfills annually.