When people go to sporting events, they’re most likely buying hot dogs, popcorn and beverages and, with thousands of people, the left over waste can add up.

“When you host a mega-event … there’s always going to be a substantial environmental impact,” said Brian McCullough, assistant professor in the School of Human Movement, Sport and Leisure Studies.

Much of McCullough’s research is in the areas of environmental management of sport organizations and sustainable initiatives within the sport industry.

The Doyt Perry Stadium houses a total of 24,000 people. With six home games a season, that’s a maximum of 144,000 attendants, not including those who just come to tailgate.

That’s why Sustainability Coordinator Nick Hennessy is leading efforts to reduce waste at the University’s athletic venues. Specifically, he has the ultimate goal of achieving zero-waste status.

Zero-waste is commonly defined as the ability to divert 90 percent or more of materials from the landfill by recycling and composting.

The University already makes strong low-waste efforts, Hennessy said.

“Zero-waste is more difficult to reach,” Hennessy said. “But the results are pretty sweet.”

The Doyt may be years away from achieving zero-waste, but the time to start planning is now, Hennessy said.

“I view myself as a person who gets the ball rolling,” Hennessy said. “I feel that at least some, if not the greater part of the leadership, will fall on me.”

But of course, as Hennessy will say, he can’t do it alone, as “it’s a collective effort.” This venture requires the support of Sodexo, which caters athletic events, Waste Management, which hauls waste and recycling, and, of course, University Athletics.

“It’s been a good program that they started,” said Jim Elsasser, associate athletic director for Internal Affairs. “We like to think we can always do better and do more.”

A zero-waste campaign has more benefits beyond just sustainability; there are also financial gains to be had.

Reducing the environmental impact reduces operating expenses, McCullough said.

Waste Management, the University’s partner in waste removal, charges per pound to haul trash to the landfill. But, the company doesn’t charge for taking away recycling bins. The reason, McCullough said, is simple: trash takes up space in a landfill, whereas recycling has a secondary market to which a company can resell.

One of the efforts Hennessy’s office has already does is the recycling of glass and cardboard. The Office of Sustainability takes care of all recycling at athletic games. Athletics houses all of the bins Hennessy and his team use.

Another initiative is called “green tailgating.” During home games, Hennessy and his team distribute receptacles for tailgaters to recycle cardboard, plastic and glass. He and his volunteers then collect recycling following the game.

Hennessy usually has 30 volunteers for each home game, some of whom are interns.

Spencer Lee, a junior, interned with the Office of Sustainability this past fall. He now works for Hennessy as an employee.

Much of Lee’s work as an intern was in “green tailgating.”

“I’m a really hands-on person,” said Lee, an environmental science major.

This semester, Lee has begun his own project in which he single-handedly collects glass recycling from the Stroh Center and delivers it to the city recycling center off Poe Road.

Through these efforts, “I’ve really grown close to the Athletic Department,” Lee said.

During this past season’s six home football games, Hennessy and his team were responsible for 9,100 pounds of recycling, according to numbers provided by the Office of Sustainability. That’s about the weight of three empty dumpsters per game. They also recycled an additional 2,661 pounds of cardboard.

But these numbers can be misleading, Hennessy said. Recycling, he said, is not synonymous with sustainability. In other words, having nothing to recycle is better than having to recycle at all.

This is a primary challenge for Hennessy as he plans for a zero-waste campaign: preventing waste by looking at the source, rather than dealing with the aftermath.

As Hennessy continues to think about how to bring a zero-waste campaign to Athletics, he is considering several questions.

“What do we offer in the stadium?” he said. “What do we serve pop in? What is the customer going to do with that?”

One of the considerations relates to what is distributed at stadiums, Hennessy said. For instance, “spirit sticks,” a commonly distributed noisemaker, is made from plastic. They are often thrown away, Hennessy said.

Another must for the campaign to be successful is organic composting.

As Hennessy prepares to move forward with a zero-waste initiative, he is looking at how other universities have done something similar. The Ohio State University, in particular, is well known for its program at their stadium.

In the 2012 football season, OSU had a diversion rate of 87.2 percent, according to stats listed on their website.

“I definitely look forward to the next steps we would take,” Hennessy said. “When you do it, you want to do it right.”