Sporting events prompt extensive cleanup

Cleanup crews at Razorback sporting events collect trash and help environment

By: Miles Bryant

Posted: 11/12/08

During the fall, it has become a tradition for Razorback fans to lounge outside of the stadium underneath tents before and after home football games. They fill their bellies with food, catch up with friends and family, and talk about the good and bad times of Razorback football. And when they go, the mighty Razorback tailgaters also leave trash cans around the stadium overflowing with dripping plastic cups, plates speckled with chips and dip, and buzzing flies feasting on leftovers.

And when fall fades away and winter bundles the campus up, well-rounded Razorback fans will take their "sooie spirit" from Reynolds Razorback Stadium to Bud Walton Arena to cheer on John Pelphrey and the Razorback basketball team, again leaving all their trash behind.

Football and basketball are well-established traditions at the UA, and university officials take responsibility to sustain these traditions with proper waste management. The football cleanup crew arrives 7 a.m. Sundays after home games with anywhere from 80 to 100 people.

There are three things the cleanup crew does on these smelly Sunday mornings: take the liquids and dump them in a bucket, pick out all the recyclables (only if they are not contaminated, which is when they have food on or in them), and bag the trash and sweep the stands. For basketball games, a spot mop is tacked on to the procedure. The cleanup lasts until about 2:30 p.m.

This cleanup procedure is one Joe Swingle, director of facilities, knows well, and although things may look messy at Razorback Stadium, Swingle says fans do a better job keeping the stadium clean than it might appear.

"They do a pretty good job, as many of them pitch in during a football game," he said.

Ally Timmermans, a sophomore biochemistry major, said she thinks UA fans are lucky to have Razorback Stadium and should strive to take care of it.

"I think we have a really pretty stadium," said Timmermans, a frequent tailgater who enjoys watching football games with her friends and family. "It's important to keep it that way."

Although the stadium might be pretty, it can get somewhat nasty when fans lay trash at their feet while watching the game. This grosses Timmermans out.

"It is really gross when you're trying to walk through the stands and you step on nachos and gum," she said.

Not only do UA students have a "pretty" football stadium, but they also have a "pretty" basketball arena - the "Basketball Palace of Mid-America." While the pre-game experience isn't quite the same at basketball games, fans can still make a mess inside the arena.

Brandon Achor, a sophomore chemistry major, said he thinks the mess can be avoided by making trash cans more easily available.

"I think there should be more trash cans accessible at basketball games because a lot of people don't want to get up and move to the trash cans, so they leave their stuff underneath their feet, like at the movie theaters," he said.

Swingle noticed the differences in seasons and acknowledged that it is a bit easier to clean up after basketball games.

"Basketball's easier - you're talking almost 20,000 [people] compared to 72,000, so that helps," he said.

Not only do university officials help clean up after games, but members of the Arkansas Student Government and other student organizations also work together to pitch in.

The Sunday cleanup, for example, is made easier by the Associated Student Government program Recycling with the Razorbacks.

"Recycling with the Razorbacks is a student organization that encourages tailgaters to recycle," said Megan Francis, ASG chief of staff.

Recycling with the Razorbacks takes groups of volunteers from Registered Student Organizations, fraternities and sororities and places those volunteers into small groups that walk through tailgaters and ask for their help by recycling.

Participation for Recycling with the Razorbacks was strong this year, Francis said, and it looks like the organization is doing well.

"We had the best turnout we've ever had for the program this year - close to 15 student organizations participated this year," Francis said, and the list of volunteers filled up quickly every home game.

If students want to volunteer next year for a home football game, they can do so through an RSO.