Championing Sustainability

| Special Olympics

Thanks to our Waste Recovery team members and partners around campus, the events had sustainability in the forefront.

A team member loads a recycling truck

The tens of thousands of athletes, coaches, volunteers and fans descending on campus for the USA Games brought an incredible amount of energy — and, naturally, waste, from food, products, packaging and more. But thanks to our Waste Recovery Services team members and partners around campus, the events had sustainability in the forefront.

  • The Opening Ceremony at Huntington Bank Stadium reached a 86% waste diversion rate — that is, the amount of waste prevented from going to landfills through alternatives like recycling, composting and reuse.
  • Outdoor event spaces and the Athletes Village brought in nearly 9,000 pounds of recyclables, mostly plastic bottles, and more than 6,000 pounds of organic waste.
  • Compostable servingware and hungry athletes in dining halls led to a record-breaking compost pickup at Pioneer Hall — team members collected more than 4,000 pounds of organics, more than they’d ever picked up from a single dock.

And the impact doesn’t end with the closing ceremonies. The University’s ReUse Program is receiving a high volume of exceptional, gently used materials from the USA Games to ensure they have another life.