A Zero Waste stadium diverts approximately 96 percent of waste from landfills, and while that’s not a realistic goal at the moment, educating football fans about game day recycling is a great place to start, MSU Waste Reduction Coordinator Dave Smith said.

“Eventually, we’ll be looking at options for composting waste coming out of the stadium, converting glassware and disposable products into compostable material,” Smith said. “Composting stadium material waste isn’t possible for us yet, so educating fans as they dispose materials will be key.”

He said they’ll have about 80 recycling containers with trash cans throughout the stadium.

Student Recycling Coordinator Emily Wilson is heading up the volunteer effort for Friday’s home game.

“We’re hoping the interest will grow throughout the year,” Wilson said. “We’ve been advertising and recruiting in (the) off-season, in the late spring and over the summer break. It’s already growing in popularity as the fall semester gets going.”

Student volunteers will man recycling stations in each section of Spartan Stadium during this weekend’s home game against Western Michigan, informing attendees about how to properly dispose of their garbage, Wilson said.

There also will be a push to encourage recycling during tailgating, Wilson said, with MSU Sustainability staff visiting tailgating sites.

The university saw recycling success last spring in the RecycleMania Tournament, a competition in which U.S. and Canadian colleges report the amount of recycling and trash collected over a period of 8 weeks, competing for the best recycling rates.

According to the final RecycleMania data report, the Spartans recycled 1, 948 metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent material — comparable to the energy consumption of 169 households, or taking 382 cars off the road.

But in terms of game day recycling, there is room for improvement, Smith said, especially throughout the duration of the season.

Although the Zero Waste initiative is a new idea, Smith has high hopes for home games this year.

“We’ve had a good volunteer response so far,” Smith said. “We want Spartans to know that almost every concession item they would buy can be recycled.”