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An effort to get tailgating Carolina Panthers' fans to throw away their trash is succeeding, organizers of the program say.
They say Tailgaters have discarded 34.3 tons of trash and 8.2 tons of recyclable materials at five Panthers' home games this season, including two preseason contests. In addition, organizers say, the effort seems to be growing.
The tailgating program is a pilot project, organized by the Panthers and several other organizations and companies. As fans arrive at their parking lots near Bank of America Stadium, they are given two yellow bags – one for trash, the other for recycable materials. Fans are asked to drop the filled bags at the curb, where they are collected by Charlotte Solid Waste Services.
Solid Waste Services officials say fans typically geneate nearly 10 tons of waste on game days.
“Our goal to begin the program is to divert 20 percent of this volume,” said Jake Wilson, executive director of Keep Mecklenburg Beautiful. “We know we can grow from there.”
The pilot project is taking place in a four-block area around the stadium. It will be expanded if it's proven to succeed, organizers say.
Here are the amounts of trash and recyclables collected at games so far this season:
Baltimore Ravens (Aug. 29): 4.57 tons of garbage; 0.88 tons of recyclables.
Pittsburgh Steelers (Sept. 3): 4 tons of garbage; 0.43 tons of recyclables.
Philadelphia Eagles (Sept. 13): 9.72 tons of garbage; 1.97 tons of recyclables.
Washington Redskins (Oct. 11): 7.11 tons of garbage; 1.57 tons of recyclables.
Buffalo Bills (Oct. 25): 8.91 tons of garbage; 3.37 tons of recyclables.
