Student Group Feature: The Athletic Sustainability Committee

Most people have never thought about sustainability and sports. But spectator sports involve significant amounts of money and resources, and generate lots of waste. Sports can provide a unique platform to address these issues, thanks to their ability to unite people from different backgrounds who may not usually be interested in sustainability.

With this in mind, student athletes from men’s and women’s soccer, women’s golf, lacrosse, cross country, volleyball, baseball, fencing, and other students involved in the Northwestern University Department of Athletics have stepped up to form the Athletics Sustainability Committee (ASC). ASC is a Northwestern student group with a mission to decrease the environmental footprint of Northwestern Athletics. Strategies for accomplishing this include increasing awareness among athletes, staff, and fans; and reducing waste within practices, games, and facilities.

During the past year, ASC has spearheaded several successful initiatives. The group organized a clothing and shoe drive to benefit several local charities and hosted volunteer events at lacrosse and men’s basketball games. Additionally, ASC has championed regular efforts to increase the number of recycling bins in athletic locker rooms, to recycle food packaging used by student athletes, and to turn off the lights around athletics facilities.

ASC has big plans for the future. Initiatives for fall 2016 include working with Pura Playa through a company called Terracycle to recycle items that cannot go through the usual recycling methods. With the more distant future in mind, ASC hopes to establish an official “zero waste” program that will consistently track our progress toward producing no landfill waste at football and basketball games. ASC also hopes to collaborate with professional Chicago sports teams and other Big Ten schools to make competitions greener and raise awareness beyond Northwestern’s campus.