Students and Hammond citizens will get a chance to help make the community go green during the Gameday Recycling Challenge on Saturday, Nov. 15. 

Joining together to host the event are the Student Government Association and the newly founded Sustainability Society. Members from both organizations will be handing out blue bags during the home football game against McNeese State. Tailgaters will be able to put cardboard, aluminum cans and plastic bottles in the bags. A volunteer will come by and pick them up following the game. 

Dante Bidwell, president of the Sustainability Society, hopes that fans may also contribute more recyclables other than their tailgating trash.

“One big thing that we may add is not only people that are tailgating that day to recycle their stuff from tailgating, but if people want to bring things from home, that would be very beneficial,” said Bidwell. 

According to the Gameday Recycling Challenge website, the purpose of the competition is to promote the reduction of waste during game days. The amount of waste collected is recorded and used to rank the schools involved. Out of over a hundred schools involved, Southeastern is the only one from the Southland Conference to have joined in on the challenge, and only one of three schools from Louisiana. 

The recycling efforts do not end with the blue trash bags. There will be recycling bins with circular holes on top beside trash cans for anybody throwing away empty cans and bottles. These recycle bins will also be inside the stadium during the football game. 

Volunteers from both SGA and the Sustainability Society will also help in cleaning up the stadium following the football game.

The Sustainability Society chose to participate in the Gameday Recycling Challenge following a Healthy Communities Grant from Keep Louisiana Beautiful. $9,500 was awarded to the Southeastern Physical Plant and Sustainability Science and Technology Center. 

Plans for this grant include the reintroduction of recycle bins to the campus. Recycle bins have been on campus before, but had to be removed due to students confusing them with trash cans. According to Danilo Miranda, vice president of the Sustainability committee, new recycle bins will be spread throughout campus.

“The biggest thing for the grant was for us to get funding for outdoor recycle bins on campus, because currently there are none,” said Miranda. “These new recycle bins will be bright blue, with the recycling logo, and the lid will say ‘cans and bottles only,’ so you can’t miss it.”

Also new with the recycle bins on campus will be the tracking of the waste collected through them. This will help in recording any large changes that are made by the bins.

To get more information on how to get involved with the Sustainability Society, email the vice president at [email protected].