A raucous men’s basketball crowd filled Millett Hall as the RedHawks took on the Toledo Rockets on Feb. 11. At the same time, in the background, a cohort of local and regional organizations worked to turn the game into a celebration of recycling.
As fans scanned their tickets, they were immediately greeted by a table from the City of Oxford, where Sustainability Coordinator Reena Murphy was giving away recycling and composting bins. The event, Recycling with the RedHawks, was a collaboration between Miami Athletics, the city, Miami’s sustainability office, Rumpke and Butler County recycling and solid waste.
The city and Rumpke have long been partners in waste management, and have recently worked together to push alternative waste management like recycling and composting. Yet, after receiving the call from Miami athletics to partner with them and Rumpke, Murphy immediately reached out to Miami’s sustainability office to include them in the event as well.
“It’s an awesome partnership between three offices,” said Olivia Herron, Miami’s director of sustainability. “We’re just really excited.”
The City of Oxford table was giving away free recycling and composting bins to fans in attendance.
The first Recycling with the RedHawks event actually occurred five years ago, just days before students were sent home due to COVID-19. The partnership was rekindled after Murphy received the call from the athletics department, who saw an educational billboard about Oxford recycling and wanted to collaborate.
Although it was a collaboration between many organizations, Rumpke took on the costs of organizing the event. Rumpke and Butler County each set up tables rife with information about everything from curbside recycling to what hazardous materials can’t go in the landfill.
Nearby, the sustainability office was joined by ZeroWaste Oxford and LEAP student clubs, each with their own tables. Logan Setty, a senior supply chain and operations management major and the president of ZeroWaste, said he saw the event as good exposure for the club.
“We’re here because we want to promote [our club’s mission] to the community and students,” Setty said.
The area attracted a steady stream of visitors, from students and local residents to President Gregory Crawford and his wife, Renate Crawford.
President Crawford energetically began questioning Herron about what waste belongs in the trash, recycling or composting bins. This was because the halftime show was a sorting competition where the Crawfords would physically sort cards bearing common waste items into the three bins Miami offers.
This knowledge would prove only somewhat useful to the president, as ultimately his wife Renate won the competition, to the cheers of many fans in attendance.
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As the RedHawks built a steady lead over the Rockets, recycling remained a theme around the arena. The sustainability office and ZeroWaste Oxford were honored at half court during a media break, and the scoreboard flashed trivia and short videos matching waste to the correct bins, formatted like a dating app, during timeouts and pauses in the action.
“[This is all] a good way to demonstrate and think about recycling in a fun way,” Herron said.
Swoop uses one of the free recycling bins as a drum during the men's basketball game.
The recycling and composting bins also found their way into the student section. They proved excellent substitutions for drums, raising the noise level as students and even Swoop would bang away in support of Miami. And, when they weren’t being used as instruments, students enjoyed repurposing them as hats, shoes and chairs.
As the final buzzer sounded and happy fans streamed out of the arena, the recycling theme followed them. The city’s table quickly ran out of recycling bins post-game, and the blue bins with the iconic white triangle stood out against the dark parking lot and snowy sky as fans took them back to their cars and homes.
Both Herron and Murphy said they hope to see the event return to games every year as Miami continues to pursue recycling initiatives and partner with organizations to promote sustainable lifestyles.
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