How the Green Grove Program Works

Program Structure

The Green Grove Initiative is a program of the UM Office of Sustainability.
A two-tiered leadership structure provides students with a variety of involvement levels to choose from including internships or volunteer opportunities on select gamedays or on sorting days during the weekdays.

Green Grove Gameday Coordinator Internship  – Each fall, 2-3 students in the Office of Sustainability’s Green Student Intern Program serve as Green Grove Gameday Coordinators. Coordinators work an average of 10 hours a week in the office to recruit volunteers, prepare for select home football games, assess and evaluate the effectiveness of the program and develop educational outreach initiatives. Coordinators work one to two home football games, during which the university participates in the EPA’s Gameday Challenge, a nationwide recycling competition among colleges and universities. Coordinators also attend recycling sorting after each game and participate in additional waste reduction efforts including collecting recycling in the stadium and assisting Landscape Services with Grove cleanup once during the football season.

Green Grove Volunteers -There are multiple opportunities to volunteer with the Green Grove Program. On EPA Challenge Gamedays (one to two gamedays a semester), volunteers work with Team Leaders to provide education and outreach on the Green Grove Program to tailgaters in the Grove and Circle by informing them on the recycling system and passing out recycling bags. Volunteers stationed outside of the stadium encourage students to recycle before entering the student section immediately prior to kickoff. Additionally, Green Grove volunteers can help sort collected recyclables on the Monday and Tuesday following a home football game. All volunteer opportunities last for about 2 hours. Sign-up sheets for fall 2021 volunteer opportunities will be posted in early September.

Partnerships & Collaboration

The Green Grove Program is a collaborative effort between the Office of Sustainability, Landscape Services, the Oxford Recycling Center and the Athletics Department.

If you organization or department is interested in getting involved, e-mail green@olemiss.edu.

Recycling Process

1.) Prior to football game Saturdays, Landscape Services sets up ClearStream recycling bins in the Grove and Circle as part of regular gameday preparations.

2.) On select gamedays, Green Grove Coordinators, team leaders and volunteers pass out green recycling bags to individual tents and communicate with tailgaters about items that can be recycled. Recycling bags are available on all gamedays at the Ole Miss Recycling Trailer dispenser located in the Circle. On gameday, recyclables are Plastics 1 & 2, aluminum cans and Solo cups. Tailgaters collect recycling in their bags and leave them in the Grove after the game. Landscape Services collects the bags and places them in roll-off bins that are picked up by the Oxford Recycling Center.

3.) On the Monday and Tuesday afternoon following home games, students sort through each recycling bag, separating plastics, aluminum and Solo cups.

4.) The plastics and aluminums are then recycled by the Oxford Recycling Center.

5.) Green Grove Gameday Coordinators box up the collected Solo cups and ship them to Terracycle, a New Jersey-based company that has the capacity to recycle hard plastics.