UC Berkeley will be receiving its award for the campus’ 5th consecutive win at the Pac-12 Sustainability Conference later this year at University of Washington for Student-Athlete Engagement and the Overall Zero Waste Basketball Competition. Cal Zero Waste organized the zero waste basketball game on February 3rd, 2019 as Cal competed against Stanford University. The theme of the game was circular economy. Cal Zero Waste partnered again with elementary students from Hesperian Elementary School, Cal Student-Athlete and StopWaste to help engage with fans about waste reduction and correct sorting at the game. This year, with the help of Cal Athletics, volunteers were applauded for their amazing efforts on promoting zero waste with an opportunity for on-court recognition.
At a pre-game event the day before the Zero Waste basketball game, UNIFI brought their REPREVE mobile trailer to Haas Pavilion, where visitors participated in the virtual speed game and were awarded free recycled content products made from REPREVE, a fiber made from recycled plastic bottles.
During halftime, two lucky Cal students were invited on-court to engage in a waste sorting game organized by Cal Zero Waste. Cal fans, alongside the campus mascot, Oski, cheered them on while they correctly sorted the materials. This was an opportunity to broadcast and educate fans on how to sort their materials while generating energy for the campus’ zero waste efforts.
Cal’s win would also not have been possible without the support of many other important stakeholders such as Cal Dining Sustainability, Waxie Sanitary Supply, Cal Parking and Transportation and Big Belly.
In the end, everyone’s collective efforts helped UC Berkeley successfully achieve a 92.1% diversion from landfills at the Zero Waste Basketball. Thank you to everyone who participated!
