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The following is a story written by KRCG contributor Kent Faddis with the University of Missouri

A Missouri home football game attracts thousands of tailgaters.

 These large crowds leave behind a lot of bottles, aluminum cans and trash. the day after a game the cleanup begins.

 A group of University of Missouri students take a closer look at what's being recycled and what's getting thrown away.

 "Yeah, it's dirty, but you know that's okay," said MU student Chris Logan.

Logan and other students with the MU Parks, Recreation and Tourism department are studying if tailgaters at Mizzou football games are doing a good job of recycling.


The MU students like Courtney Schultz say the only way to find out is to look inside the bags.

"We are going through those black bags finding out how much recycling is in with the garbage and conversely how much recycling is in the garbage," said Schultz.

 MU Associate Professor Mark Morgan is helping lead the study.

"We want to try to improve the efficiency of tailgating-type behavior,” said Morgan. “We want to encourage them and motivate them in any way possible to recycle as much of the trash stream as they possibly can."

 A sampling of trash and recycling bags are cut open. By hand, Mizzou students separate glass and plastic bottles and aluminum cans from the trash.

 After sorting through a sample of black trash bags, the study found that more than 40% of what people are throwing away could have been recycled.

 The study also found that recycling bins placed in the parking lots contained more than 70% of recyclable content…the rest trash.

 And those little blue bags handed out to tailgaters before the game contained even more recyclable material.

 "We want to convince the fans of the need for recycling, not only for an economic perspective but just doing the right thing," said Morgan.