Changing the Game [With Recyclable and Compostable Concessions Products]

By: Zachary Alter, Jacob Gerigk, Sarina Levin, Jonah Eisen, Amber Lam, and Kate Minden. Edited by Chloe Ney.

The Green Games team met with Bonny Bentzin and our stakeholders Kayla Shirley and Derek Doolittle to discuss our policy recommendation that we will be making to ASUCLA. This recommendation will focus on eliminating waste from concession stands. Changes we proposed include: switching to all recyclable or compostable products in concession stands, selling souvenir cups, and composting or donating leftover food from concessions. We have been researching and identified viable options for souvenir cups vendors, food banks, and composting sites. With advice from the meeting, we will refocus the policy recommendation for a meeting with the head of ASUCLA early spring quarter.

In other news, the team has been continuously gathering surveys and has received over 110 responses. Results from the survey have been encouraging, with 92% of students marking “Extremely interested” or “Interested” in seeing the implementation of policies that would make UCLA athletic events more sustainable. Additionally, 91% percent of respondents indicated they would pay $1 or more for environmentally-friendly packaging on concession stand items, with 17% saying they would be willing to pay $3-4 dollars. We will use these results to guide our research going forward.

Survey results show high rates of student interest in the environmental impact of sporting events.