Bowdoin Green Athletics, a student-run organization that is greening Bowdoin’s sports culture, diverted 176 pounds of recyclables and 102 pounds of food waste from trashcans at last weekend’s home football game. “This would have gone to the landfill without our efforts,” said Alex Tougas ’14, one of the leaders of Bowdoin Green Athletics. “We diverted almost three-quarters of our waste from the landfill.”

Tougas organized the sustainability effort with Erica Nangeroni ’14. Sheryl Perlow, parent of Matt Perlow ’15, helped coordinate among the football parents.

Their work is part of the collegiate competition Game Day Recycling Challenge, supported by the EPA, which encourages colleges and universities to reduce waste at football games. Schools track and report how much trash they divert from the waste stream, and are ranked on their performance. Winners will be announced at the end of the 2013 football season.