The Waste Management collection crew working at Michigan Stadium provided feedback that much of the stadium waste was cardboard. With that in mind, we decided to look into the feasibility of recycling. At the last game of the '94 season a crew of six people went out to see how much there was and how it could be recycled. During the summer of '95, an SNRE graduate student, Jeanne Carlson became interested in assisting us in setting up a program for the stadium. Jeanne's background included previous employment for the consulting company that had set up recycling at the Super Bowl. It was an opportunity we couldn't pass up!

As we progressed with the details, Jeanne became interested in recycling at Athletic facilities in general. This grew into a Master's thesis project that analyzed several U-M athletic facilities. Two other graduate students joined the project, Ornitte Nagar and Wendy Comeau. The three women assisted us in setting up the program, and in the actual collection at every game that season. They designed a variety of tests to measure recycling behavior at the stadium, and analyzed the various components of the waste stream.

The result was a report that provided information to the University on ways to implement recycling throughout the Athletic Department, as well as recommendations on purchasing strategies. The report was also published by the National Pollution Prevention Center through the School of Natural Resources & Environment. A copy of this report is available through our office.