With over one hundred thousand people going to Penn State home football games and others tailgating, left over trash has been an issue.

Amy Schirf, with Centre County Recycling and Refuse Authority, says a few years ago Penn State football cleanup crews noticed two continuing problems after games.

“One was that there was just a lot of trash and litter being left all around the tailgate areas, and then number two was, there was a lot of contamination in our recycling bags,” Amy Schirf, Education Coordinator for Centre County Recycling and Refuse Authority, said.

Schirf says that contamination could mean trash put in recyclable bags, including items like diapers. Instead, tailgaters and fans going to the game are asked to take advantage of one of the free recycle and trash bags in parking lots around Beaver Stadium.

“If people would just put all of their trash in the clear bags and their recyclables in the blue bags, tie them up and leave them at their tailgate, the employees of both Penn State and the recycling center would be so happy,” Schirf, said. “That’s our end game for people just to do that.”

She says last year, after CCRRA, the Penn State office of Physical Plant, the Student Tailgate Ambassadors and others teamed up with their “Recycle Right at your Tailgate” campaign, they noticed a positive difference in the amount of trash left over.

She says, it’s the recycling contamination that’s still the issue.

“We usually get about 50% of trash in the blue bags, which we would like only bottles and cans in those,” Schirf, said.

She says, the best thing to do, is leave your trash in the clear bag, and be sure to the blue bags for recyclables before the game, so you don’t have to worry about cleaning up after the game, when you’re tired and trying to beat traffic.