University of Louisiana at Lafayette starts composting program at football stadium

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette) is starting a composting program at its football stadium Sept. 1.

Trash cans inside Cajun Field have been removed to make way for stations that hold separate bins where fans can choose whether their garbage will be composted or recycled rather than sent to landfills.

It’s part of a larger campus-wide effort to produce zero waste. The University of Louisiana at Lafayette approved a Sustainability Strategic Plan in July that calls for reusing, recycling or composting trash that otherwise would be bound for the dump.

The stadium will serve food on biodegradable plates or in reusable containers instead of plastic-lined paper products. Wooden spoons, forks and knives will replace plastic utensils. Fans will consume beverages from either aluminum cans or recyclable plastic cups, and they can request compostable straws.

Cajun Field is the first stadium in Louisiana to move toward a zero-waste goal, Gretchen Lacombe Vanicor, director of the university’s Office of Sustainability, says. She adds that if the Cajun Field pilot program is successful, the composting initiative could expand to other campus sites.

Tailgaters outside Cajun Field and fans inside the stadium sent an average of 10.3 tons of materials per game to landfills since 2014, Vanicor says.

“With the changes we have made inside Cajun Field for this season, we believe more than 90 percent of the materials inside the stadium will be either compostable or recyclable,” she says.

Vanicor says trash cans will remain in tailgating areas for now, but fans are encouraged to minimize waste by choosing reusable containers when possible and avoid purchasing Styrofoam and glass containers. Neither Styrofoam nor glass is accepted in recycling bins.

After each of this season’s six home football games, recyclable materials collected inside the stadium will be sent to a processing and recovery facility.

In addition, Vanicor says she expects an accumulation of about 20 cubic yards, filling roughly three dumpsters, of compostable material per game.

It will be trucked to the university’s Experimental Farm near Cade, Louisiana, in St. Martin Parish. There, discarded food, containers, straws, cups and other biodegradables will become ingredients for compost.

UL Lafayette received the St. Martin Parish Council’s approval for a pilot composting program in August.

In addition to the materials collected at Cajun Field, compost made in Cade will contain materials from local sugar mills, James Foret, an instructor in UL Lafayette’s School of Geosciences, says. That includes bagasse, the dried residue left after juice is extracted from sugarcane; nutrient-enriched mud from filtration systems; and ash from boilers. Tree and grass trimmings from the Experimental Farm and the university’s main campus will be added as well.

The Office of Sustainability is seeking volunteers to staff the dual composting and recycling bins in Cajun Field. They’ll help fans navigate the new disposal system, Vanicor says.

The annual Herbert Heymann Football Classic starts at 6 p.m. Sept. 1. The Ragin’ Cajuns will face the Grambling State University Tigers.