LAFAYETTE, La. — The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns defeated the Georgia State Panthers in October, but fans at Cajun Field chalked up another noteworthy victory that night.
By recycling, the crowd put the University of Louisiana at Lafayette among the top 10 schools in the nation that prevented large amounts of trash produced during home games from being buried in landfills.
UL Lafayette, along with 90 other schools across the country, competed in the collegiate GameDay Recycling Challenge. For the Georgia State game, Cajuns fans diverted 65.5 percent of trash at Cajun Field to be recycled.
“Making it to the top 10 in the national diversion category was a tremendous showing, especially since this was the first time UL Lafayette competed in the Challenge,” said Gretchen Vanicor, director of Sustainability at UL Lafayette.
Humboldt State University was No. 1. Its fans sent 86 percent of trash at a home game to be recycled instead of a landfill.
The Gameday Challenge, part of the University's Zero Waste initiative, was a way to draw attention to higher education's efforts to protect and preserve natural resources that help keep an ecological balance.
The University has taken a calculated and comprehensive approach to protecting the environment that's rooted in a campus sustainability policy adopted in late October last year.
“The adoption of a policy doesn't make the headlines. But this policy will help UL Lafayette become more environmentally, socially and economically responsible,” Vanicor said.