It is easy to imagine the type of waste that is generated at a University of New Mexico football tailgate, with aluminum cans, plastic bottles and cardboard usually sent directly to the landfill. This season, a group of students from environmentally-focused student organizations across campus are banding together to make recycling easier than ever for Lobo fans by debuting a roaming recycling cart at home tailgates.
The cart began roaming on Nov. 15 at the Lobo football tailgate to collect and manage the recyclables people had on-hand during the event. Â Led by senior Shaylene Sanchez, the team is attempting to reform the Universityâs current recycling practices by making a roaming recycling cart to collect items like cans and bottles âwhere people actually toss them,â and adding volunteers to âclose the gap between what we need to be recycling and what we really do recycle,â Sanchez said.
By the end of the tailgate, the cart had collected 29 lb. of mixed paper, 8 lb. of plastic, 2 lb. of non-can metal, 17.5 lb. of metal cans and 8.5 lb. of glass, coming to a total of 65 pounds of recyclables; for comparison, approximately 15 lb. of trash was collected.