Real Cowboys Recycle: Tailgate Recycling
Jesi Lay and Rachel Branch
Oklahoma State University
Real Cowboys Recycle Tailgate Recycling was formed in the fall of 2007 by Oklahoma State University’s
Student Government Association’s Sustainability Committee. The focus of this program is to divert as many
aluminum cans and plastic bottles as possible from Stillwater’s landfill. Tailgate Recycling raises awareness
about recycling in Oklahoma by passing out green recycling bags to OSU tailgaters throughout the football
season. Student volunteers pass out the recycling bags to tailgaters before games and after the game is
over, the volunteers go out and collect all the bags and sort out the aluminum cans, plastic bottles, and
glass bottles. The program, initially a three woman operation, now has anywhere from 15 to 40 volunteers
per game.
A partnership was developed in 2008 with Stillwater’s Habitat for Humanity. To this day, all of the aluminum
cans collected are donated to the Cans for Habitat program. The 2010 football season has seen record levels
of recycling, thanks in part to a new distribution element, a partnership with OSU Athletics that included
placing recycling bins inside Boone Pickens Stadium, and a public service announcement that is played
during the football game. To date, over 170,000 aluminum cans have been recycled for Habitat for
Humanity. This poster will discuss how Tailgate Recycling was created and how it has grown, obstacles
experienced, and improvements made to the program over the past three years. It is hoped that this
program will serve as a model for other universities and colleges in the state of Oklahoma who wish to
implement game day recycling.