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KGAN CBS 2: Hawkeye Fan Join Game Day Recycling Competition

November 05, 2011

It was a huge win on and off the field Saturday as Hawk fans got a chance to take on the competition by taking out the trash. "I've gone from tailgate to tailgate and folks have been very receptive," said Director of University of Iowa’s Office of Sustainability, Liz Christiansen.

University officials and volunteers gave out free trash bags along with a friendly wave - with one goal in mind. "Our hope is to divert material from the landfill, to save natural resources, and to save energy," Liz said.

The University enlisted Hawk fans to compete in the Environmental Protection Agency's "Gameday Challenge." The event is a competition is to see who out of more than 70 universities can recycle the most on gameday. "Obviously we can always get better," Liz said.

Liz said aluminum cans aren't the problem since folks can cash in, so they get scooped up and recycled by the bag full. The real concern is everything else. "Like utensils, paper plates, napkins, cups," said tailgater Rosio Bojorquez. "We do try to separate the plastic, but that's a little harder. Sometimes that just gets in with the regular garbage," said tailgater Julie Beck.

SOURCE: KGAN CBS 2 News. To view the complete story, http://www.kgan.com/shared/newsroom/top_stories/videos/kgan_vid_8608.shtml.