Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 67.84
Liaison Noah Upchurch
Submission Date March 1, 2024

STARS v2.2

Catawba College
IN-16: Green Athletics

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.25 / 0.50 Noah Upchurch
Senior Sustainability Specialist
Center for the Environment
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution’s green athletics program include the following?:
Yes or No
Zero waste and/or carbon neutral athletic events Yes
A stadium or arena certified under a green building rating system No
A sustainable food and beverage purchasing program that includes athletic event vendors and concessions No
A program to minimize the sustainability impacts of turf management (e.g., by installing low input turfgrass or environmentally preferable artificial turf) Yes
A program to support more sustainable transportation options for athletic events No
Community engagement efforts, e.g. to educate students and fans/supporters about the institution’s sustainability initiatives Yes
An athletic team certification program No

A brief description of the institution’s green athletics program:
The Environmental Stewards led Zero-Waste efforts at each home Football game for the Fall 2023 season. This included sorting all waste from the stadium and tailgating areas to ensure that as much waste was diverted from the landfill as possible. Game attendees were engaged about the sustainability initiatives at work for each game by way of a video at halftime and the educational efforts of the Stewards.

The Environmental Stewards have also begun similar Zero-Waste efforts for home Basketball and Baseball games for the Spring 2024 season.

In addition to Zero-Waste and community engagement efforts, the College uses environmentally preferable turf for its football field. Instead of rubber, the field uses a mixture of sand and BrockFILL, an engineered wood particle infill. There is zero waste in the production of BrockFILL and 100% of the tree is used. The use of a more sustainable infill option protects the health of athletes and limits the amount of microplastics that escape into the environment.

Website URL where information about the green athletics program is available:

Optional Fields 

Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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