4 min read
Football tailgates pull big crowds; big crowds generate big trash. The McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, with guidance from UT Austin’s Resource Recovery team, set out to shift that paradigm by hosting a “zero waste” event and successfully achieved a 92% diversion rate during this year’s annual Alumni Weekend tailgate!
This is the FIRST zero waste tailgate Resource Recovery has supported with composting.
Morgan Laner, Zero Waste Program Coordinator
By comparison, the latest data from 2021-2022 fiscal year shows the average diversion rate for campus is 30%. It has never been attempted at a tailgate. That Texas ChE pulled off the first-of-its-kind event on campus is a feat to be proud of. Hook ‘em ChemE!
How is Zero Waste achieved?
“A business efficiency philosophy aimed at minimizing waste, it is defined as 90% or more trash-diversion from landfills or incinerators,” offered Stacy Savage, a graduate of The University of Texas at Arlington and founder of Zero Waste Strategies consulting firm. It is also making deliberate choices about trash before trash is generated.
Laner and the Zero Waste Events student interns, whom our department engaged early in the planning process, provided pre-event consultation, day-of coordination, volunteer training and post-event tabulation. The Zero Waste Events program offers many resources on their website, like the Event Check-list which offers self-guidance for upstream decisions: vendor selection, planning and purchasing and downstream thoughts for how items are disposed. The added cooperation and support of our chosen catering and bar vendors was vital to the ultimate success of our vision. How did Texas ChE stack up?
Trash Talk (by the numbers):
- Trash: we tossed roughly 10 pounds (less than 1 bag) - mostly hangers/film plastic from the table linens
- Recycle: 2+ bags of bottles and cans, estimated 30 pounds
- Compost: 3 full 64-gallon toters, estimated 80 pounds
Diverting trash and food from the landfill was not free but was a necessary line-item towards achieving our goal. The effort added $1,695 to the cost of our event with compostable materials (utensils, cups, plates) instead of throw-away plastic, compost bin delivery, personnel, etc. Note: not all zero waste efforts will cost the same, engage Resource Recovery early to understand yours.
Our student volunteers understood the assignment. The 15+ chemical engineering student volunteers and Texas AIChE members snapped on gloves and brought their A-game to help guests decipher which bin to place their discarded items into. “Ultimately the biggest win, along with the results, was that the Texas ChE student volunteers were fully engaged and understood the importance of this effort,” gleamed Laurea Irving, Texas ChE senior events and development coordinator.
The McKetta Tailgate – a little history…
Every year* since 2007, Texas ChE has hosted the McKetta Tailgate ‘3 hours prior to kick-off’ during Texas Longhorn’s football season… *except during the pandemic. The Saturday event, now part of the department’s broader Alumni Weekend festivities, has grown in scope from those first days where alumni and faculty mingled pre-game. The addition of a corporate sponsor, thank you Phillips 66 (2014-2022) and Chevron (2023), allowed Texas ChE to open up the event to students and friends of the department. This year at the November 4 nail-biter game against Kansas State, which had an 11am kick-off time, we welcomed 300 revelers to the CPE lawn, outfitted students in their Chevron-sponsored McKetta Tailgate tee, and invited everyone who attended to change the world… one compostable breakfast taco bite at a time.
To host your own zero waste campus event, click URLs above or email:
