As a college student, my favorite time of the year is football season. I get to wake up early, watch some college football, and hangout with my friends at our school’s tailgate on a sunny day. I’m sure most college students would agree with me that tailgates are a blast… but what’s not a blast about tailgates is the number of single-use plastics and wastes going to the landfills or improperly disposed of. To be completely honest when I’m at a tailgate sustainability and recycling are not on my mind like any student. That’s what makes this such an issue is the amount of waste, culture promoting a wasteful mindset, and ineffective standards set by the school.
Our tailgate here at Furman
A lot of people simply don’t realize how easily waste is produced at tailgates. Speaking from my personal experience at Furman tailgates I see a lot of waste, whether that be in improper disposal of single-use plastics, littering, or food being abandoned. In my research I discovered a couple statistics that really stood out as shocking to me, [3] first being the fact that 85% of people who tailgate use only disposable or single use tableware. This is an issue as the more people who use single us plastics the more likely improper disposal will occur. Another not so fun fact I found was that around [3] 3000 tons of waste are generated through certain collegiate football tailgates annually. To put that into perspective the produced waste weighs the same as about 20 locomotives. I know at Furman we won’t be producing nearly as much waste as a huge football school does, but I’ve seen the aftermath of football games, and it definitely isn’t squeaky clean. In an article I read it mentioned that [5] 71% of waste at most football games were micro-litter, which is litter such as cigarette butts, bottle caps, and wristbands. The article [5] than goes on to say that a third of the students that they surveyed had admitted to littering at a tailgate within the past month. Thinking about the fact that such a substantial number of students admitted to this shows that this is an issue that isn’t viewed as problematic.
The main reason that improper waste disposal is such an issue is the culture surrounding tailgating. A lot of fan behaviors subtly encourage negative waste disposal ideas. Such as binge drinking of aluminum cans, for example college students shot gunning and then proceeding to spike the aluminum can on the ground. Some say this is the college experience, but I call it improper waste disposal. There is also a correlation between the result of the game and the fans environmental attitude. [6] It is found that fans who exhibit a more positive attitude recycle more than fans in a negative attitude. This correlates with whether the team has won or lost. This is due to the culture of the fanbase and tailgating as they are easily swayed by what goes on them around them. It also shows that college students get stuck in the moments and go by the flow. This flow can encourage to exhibit poor environmental tendencies.
Onto the question of what we as students can and what can our campus do to encourage more sustainable tailgates.
Students at UNC Charlotte sorting waste after a tailgate
First, I’ve read about a total ban of single use at college tailgates [4]. While I don’t think that would work at Furman due to our consumption culture. Although this would cause in an immediate reduction of waste and a more positive environmental public perception. I think something Furman could do to replicate this would be having a student taskforce that sorted tailgate waste after the games such as they do at UNC Charlotte [2]. Another thing would be to engage the fans through interactive recycling signage, more accessible waste facilities, social media engagement, and incentives such as discounts or rewards for staying committed to sustainability [4]. I think we could do something like this at Furman for fraternities and sororities. Imagine if whoever left the least amount of waste behind after their tailgate got rewarded with some prize or a social media shout out. I’m sure it would encourage more productive and less wasteful cleanups.
Overall, the gameday environment is not one that promotes environmental mindfulness, but with the right resources Furman could also be a collegiate leader of low waste tailgates.
[1] “Game Day at Furman.” Admission Blog, May 15, 2025.
[2] “Getting Our Hands Dirty for Good: How UNC Charlotte Keeps Its Zero Waste Stadium Promise.” Inside UNC Charlotte, October 6, 2024.
[3] Linder, Jannik. “Tailgating Statistics.” Gitnux, April 2025.
[4] “Reducing Plastic in Sports Events: A Winning Play for the Planet.” Reducing Plastic in Sports Events: A Winning Play for the Planet, January 15, 2025.
[5] Scheaffer, Kristen. “The Environmental Impact of Tailgating and Litter.” The Prospector, November 9, 2022.
[6] “What Factors Influence Fans’ Gameday Recycling?” Sport Ecology Group, January 6, 2025.