Whether it’s the zero-waste sort stations in tailgating areas or the new hydration stations at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, it is hard not to notice how much effort is being made to reduce waste at USC Trojans football’s home games.

In the first three home games this season, the USC Zero Waste and Landscape and Grounds teams collected 28 tons of waste from tailgating on the University Park Campus.

They also managed to recycle 4.2 tons, compost nearly 7.2 tons and reuse 2 tons, with the remainder ending up in the landfill. Overall, the effort this season has added up to a diversion rate of nearly 48%.

Earlier this year, the Coliseum was awarded the 2024 Green Sports Alliance Waste Champion Award for achieving more than 90% waste diversion. The venue recently entered a partnership with Further Products to produce soaps from the glycerin byproduct of the oil used in the stadium to cook food.

The soaps are available in all the suites in the Scholarship Tower. Managers of the Coliseum are also in the process of introducing more sustainable cleaning products, and they plan to install a BioSpeed M2 digester before the end of the current football season that will turn waste food into compost. The compost can then be used to enrich the soil for trees and plants around the legendary stadium.

Sustainability is one of USC President Carol Folt’s “moonshot” initiatives, a commitment to USC leadership in green research, education, policymaking and practice.

Learn more about USC’s Assignment: Earth initiative.

Originally published on October 24 at usc.edu By Stephen Gee