Oct. 24, 2007
Columbia, Mo. - The University of Missouri women's soccer team will `go green' Sunday (Oct. 28) when the Tigers host the Nebraska Cornhuskers at 1 p.m. Fans are encouraged to bring recyclable electronic items to the gates of Walton Stadium to help keep dangerous materials out of landfills. Fans that bring at least one electronic item to recycle will get into the game free.
To clarify, recyclable electronic items include; used print cartridges, used cell phones, used DVD's, CD's and VHS tapes as well as used rechargeable batteries from cell phones or computers. There will also be recycling bins for traditional recyclables such as plastic bottles, but fans can only get in free if they bring recyclable electronic items.
The event is a combined effort between many different parties in the Columbia area. Associate Head Coach Amy Edwards, along with Layli Terrill from the City of Columbia's Solid Waste Division and Steve Burdic from the University of Missouri's Campus Services Landscape Services division, are coordinating the promotion. The two groups will help collect the electronics, and Mizzou's Student and Auxiliary Services will also help by collecting used print cartridges. The Columbia group ACT/Do Something will collect used DVD's and VHS tapes.
"Mizzou and Columbia already do a great job with traditional recycling," Edwards said. But we want to bring awareness to another kind of recycling, to let people know we can recycle electronic items as well."
As part of the promotion, Mizzou players will wear special green warm-up shirts during pre-game activities, and also after the game during their free children's soccer clinic.
The Tigers first started thinking about recycling as a team early in the season, when junior Kat Tarr brought a reusable cup to practice so she would not waste the paper cups when she took a drink of water or Gatorade. Her idea caught on, and the Tigers are trying to use less and less paper cups during practice. More ideas came forward from there, and now the Tigers can claim to be the first Mizzou team to have a electronic recycling day.
In addition to teaching the community about recycling, the team also hopes to learn more about what they can do. Former Mizzou goalkeeper and current student assistant Laura Buehrig has studied recycling as part of her engineering degree and plans to give the team a quiz on the subject after practice Thursday morning. The team also plans to visit a local landfill in the offseason.
This is the second awareness promotion the team has done. Earlier in the season, they `Played for Pink,' a fundraiser for breast cancer awareness and support, that raised $1,130 for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation.