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The only green that used to matter at a sports stadium was the grass (or Astroturf) on the field. Now sustainability has come to stadiums: the University of Colorado is working to make Folsom Field one of the nation’s greenest stadiums. The university has expanded its zero-waste efforts from inside the stadium—where almost all food and drink packaging is refillable, recyclable or compostable—to outside the stadium at a special tailgating area on Franklin Field.
The grassy area, now called the Aluminum Can Zone Presented by Ball Corp, is the latest in various green updates in and around Folsom Field. Special tents available for rent come complete with furniture, a cooler and compostable tailgate supplies. The tents are so popular that they’ve long been sold out.
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Eco-Products, based in Boulder, supplies hundreds of thousands of compostable cups, plates, trays, utensils and straws at Folsom Field. Now the company's also supplying special plates, cups and utensils—all compostable and all in CU colors—for the tailgating area.
“This is about as green as a tailgating area can get,” Eco-Products sustainability maven Sarah Martinez says. The partnership simplifies waste disposal for fans. All plates, cups and utensils can go into the same compostable bins along with any leftover food.
Fans can walk to the special tailgating area after parking at the stadium’s new solar-powered underground garage. Then, once inside Folsom Field, they find “Zero Waste Goalies” wearing green shirts and showing which recyclable and compostable bins to put waste into.
Together, the efforts make up Ralphie’s Green Stampede, the NCAA’s first sports sustainability program. Fans now recycle at a 90% rate during football games at Folsom Field.
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