MSU continues to sharpen sustainability efforts at the stadium

When Bobcat football plays at home, the MSU community rushes to the stadium to get their fill of food, drink and school pride. However, with a seating capacity of 20,000 and hundreds of tailgating spots in the surrounding parking lots, games can have some negative impacts, according to some community members. 

After these games, fans file out of the stadium, leaving leftover food, empty cups and other forms of waste in the seating area. Tailgaters in the parking lots also leave behind litter from barbecues.

When home games end, the Spirit of the West (SOTW) Marching Band spreads out through the stands for a final performance. “I feel like I see the most trash near the trash cans, not in them,” said SOTW member and music education major Gabriel Lippy. “It doesn’t take much to have some common courtesy.”

According to Mike Becker, interim vice president of University Communications, trash is inevitable at games. “When you gather 20,000 people in a space, they’re going to produce garbage,” he said. “We’ve been putting on football games for a long time at Bobcat Stadium, so we’re very practiced with that.”

This year, the Office of Sustainability (OS) has seen a 12.2 percent increase in recyclable material recovered per game according to Becker. “It’s not perfect, but we’re always looking to find ways with vendors to say, ‘Can we get alternative materials that are compostable or recyclable,’ just to generate a larger stream of recycling as opposed to landfill,” he said

Community members have raised concerns over MSU’s sustainability. “My understanding is that the [OS] doesn’t have an initiative at this point,” said political science professor Paul Lachapelle. “I think there’s zero recycling, and I don’t think there’s any plans to address that.”

According to its website, the University’s sustainability framework aims for MSU to be zero-waste by 2035 and carbon neutral by 2040.

The OS is constantly working on MSU’s sustainability according to OS Program Manager Paul Edlund. “We submitted our first [Sustainability Tracking and Reporting System (STARS)] report in 2019,” Edlund said. “[We] use that report to measure four larger categories: academics, engagement, operations and planning and administration.” 

In 2019, MSU was named a silver-rated sustainability institution by STARS. “At that time, we got to partner with our friends at data analytics to use a tool called Faculty Success to identify sustainability-related classes,” Edlund said. According to him, tools like this allowed the OS to prioritize sustainability initiatives on campus, bumping MSU to gold-rated in 2023.

“There are things we advocate for in our sustainability reports that I think have a positive impact on students’ quality of life,” Edlund said. Some examples include using regenerative agriculture to put food on tables and employing more sustainable transportation on campus, according to him. 

Not only does the stadium produce trash, it emits lots of noise and light. “We can hear the stadium loud and clear on game days,” said Mac Burgess, a Bozeman local living near the stadium. “Sometimes night games interfere [at home], but I don’t feel like it’s a big deal.”

There are several ways for the student body to get involved in campus cleanup, according to Becker. “There are student clubs on campus, or simply stop by the [OS,]” he said. “[Students] can attend public information sessions or public interview sessions and provide feedback on that process.” 

“Volunteer in your communities, find opportunities in the Office of Student Engagement. There’s plenty of ways to get involved,” Becker said.

To learn more about sustainability at MSU, visit https://www.montana.edu/sustainability/index.html.

To view MSU’s sustainability reports, visit https://reports.aashe.org/institutions/montana-state-university-mt/report/2023-05-31/.