The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
UT Athletics champions sustainability
10.17.2011 | Texas Athletics, Bleed Orange. Live Green.
Oct. 17, 2011
Natalie England, TexasSports.com
The mission on The University of Texas campus is clear, handed down from President Bill Powers himself -- be more sustainable.
This is also a mission of UT Athletics, and in the Intercollegiate Athletics strategic plan, which was unveiled in September 2011. One of the initiatives is to "continue to integrate sustainability into the culture of UT Athletics," and over the past few years, UT Athletics has focused on doing exactly that through efforts on Texas Football gamedays and in the daily operations of the department.
"We are proud of our whole program and want to continue to get better at reducing our carbon footprint every year," said Jim Baker, associate athletics director for events and operations. "We need to continue to educate our fans on what we are doing and how they can help on gamedays for us to reach our goal."
Since 2009, Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium has undergone several updates to help the facility take on a greener tone. During the spring of that year, Fieldturf replaced the stadium's grass playing surface; in addition to being more durable and requiring less maintenance, the artificial surface saves 3 million gallons of water and 700 gallons of paint a year.
This past summer, the stadium lighting system was also upgraded with Musco's Smart Lamp System, which allows for constant light levels and reduces energy usage.
However, Longhorns fans prove to make the biggest sustainable impact on gamedays.
With more than 150 single-stream recycling retainers positioned throughout the stadium near concession stands, in all 113 suites and Longhorn Foundation donor club areas, almost 53 tons of recyclable materials have been collected since 2008.
UT Athletics partnered with the Campus Environmental Center student organization in 2010 to initiate cluster point recycling in the tailgate areas and entrances to the football stadium. Two recycling trailers are positioned around the stadium block on gamedays, and cluster point recycling containers give fans the opportunity to recycle their beverages before entering the stadium.
"The current season numbers of recycling collection are growing and have shown our progress in reducing our carbon footprint," said Merrick MyCue, assistant athletics director for special Eevents and stadium operations. "We'll continue to work closely with campus partners and Allied Waste to increase these numbers on gameday and daily operations."
New for the 2011 season, UT Athletics teamed up with Keep Austin Beautiful to launch a composting program. After collecting two bags of compost at the season-opening game against Rice, collection tripled to six bags during the BYU game.
The goal for this football season is to collect at least 25 tons of recyclable material, while also finding ways to streamline collection.
For the daily operations of UT Athletics, which boasts more than 300 full-time employees, energy usage is sharply monitored. In fact, daily emails are sent to staff to show how much energy is used each day. Facilities are also equipped with software that allows for control of space -- for instance, air flow can be scheduled for shut down at a specific time.
"Athletics is really leading the way with creative engagement of their employees, student-athletes and the fan base," said Jim Walker, director of sustainability on the UT campus. "As a university we are working on integrating sustainability deeper into all aspects of campus life, and certainly athletics is a major part of that for students."
Going forward, as UT Athletics continues to integrate sustainability in all of its functions, the keys will be education, expansion and collection.
