It’s late September at Missouri State University. The air is crisp with promises of fall just around the corner. Anticipation for the first football game has been building all over campus. There are alumni, staff, students, and everyone in between starting to slowly make their way to Plaster Stadium.

It’s a beautiful Saturday afternoon, perfect for a football game, with fans cheering in the stands. The band plays, the game ends, and everyone makes their way to their cars to head home. But something remains in the stadium and the area around it—trash.

Missouri State is a university that prides itself on always working to be more sustainable, but there is one event every fall in which the sustainability mission seems to be forgotten. Our campus is beautiful, green, and clean. We would love to keep it that way, and you can help! The next time you find yourself at a tailgate or football game, make sure that every piece of trash you accumulate finds its way into a trash can or recycling bin. This request might seem pretty easy, but some people forget!

If you care about keeping campus clean like we do, you can also volunteer to make sure that all of the left behind waste finds it’s way into the right disposal container. That way, our campus stays as clean and welcoming as possible, and no one’s forgotten soda can ends up somewhere it shouldn’t.

To volunteer to expand current waste practices for tailgates and keep campus clean, check out the Volunteer Spreadsheet

We hope to see you at the next football game, supporting our bears and our campus!