| Overall Rating | Silver |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 55.77 |
| Liaison | Susan Kaspari |
| Submission Date | July 16, 2022 |
Central Washington University
IN-16: Green Athletics
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
0.00 / 0.50 |
Susan
Kaspari Professor Geological Sciences |
Does the institution’s green athletics program include the following?:
| Yes or No | |
| Zero waste and/or carbon neutral athletic events | No |
| 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 | No |
| An athletic team certification program | No |
A brief description of the institution’s green athletics program:
Tomlinson Stadium was built in 1959, and is used for football, rugby, and soccer. The stadium was renovated in 2018, including installation of artificial turf and LED lighting.
In contrast to grass fields, the environmental benefit of artificial turf is that it does not require water, fertilizer, mowing, or reapplication of paint, all of which limits resource use. The lower maintenance of the artificial turf enables the field to be used more.
The Tomlinson Stadium artificial turf is from FieldTurf, who utilizes recycled car tires in their infill system (the ‘black crumbs’ that lay in between the blades of artificial grass). The artificial turf is planned to last ten years and is Cradle to Cradle™ Bronze Certified which requires the product to meet levels of environmental sustainability.
For turf fields to be a sustainable option, it is important that at the end of the materials’ lifespan it is recycled or repurposed rather than being sent to the landfill. ReMatch is an organization that specializes in recycling used synthetic turf fields and is able to separate the components of the turf. At the end of the turf field’s lifespan, CWU plans to recycle the turf.
Website URL where information about the green athletics program is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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