UC Berkeley Wins Inaugural Green Sports Alliance Pac-12 Zero Waste Challenge

UC Berkeley was recognized yesterday at the 2015 Green Sports Alliance Summit for winning the Inaugural Green Sports Alliance Pac-12 Zero Waste Challenge, achieving a 95.7% diversion rate during the March 1st Cal Men's Basketball Game.University of Colorado Boulder was the runner-up with an 86% diversion rate, with honorable mentions for UCLA and University of Arizona for their innovation and outreach. Nine of the twelve Pac-12 universities participated in the inaugural competition, with University of Utah, University of Washington, and Oregon State University serving as the panel of judges for the Challenge.The Green Sports Alliance Pac-12 Zero Waste Challenge is the first national competition whose participants are competing to achieve a zero waste basketball game. The competition was unique in scoring universities on multiple categories. In addition to diversion rates, participants were scored on partnerships and collaboration, and innovation and outreach. Competition results will be published so more college or professional basketball teams can adopt these innovative practices and achieve achieve zero waste games.In related news, the Pac-12 Conference office announced Monday that it had officially joined the Green Sports Alliance (GSA), following the lead of the conference’s 12 universities, which were already members of the GSA. The Pac-12 Conference is the first collegiate sports conference to count all its member institutions as GSA members.