Assistant Recycling Coordinator Chris Radus tosses aluminum cans into his work truck during Western’s Homecoming. Thousands of items were collected during the day. He’s responsible for picking up and relocating all recycling and compost produced on Western’s campus. “Out of sight, out of mind,” Radus said. “Often, people care about recycling but don’t know the work that’s put into it.” KATIE SIMPSON/HERALD

Amid tailgaters partying it up Saturday was a green group picking up.

A recycling crew works eight to 10 hours every tailgating day, Recycling Coordinator Cristin Lanham said. The group is made up of about six people, including facilities staff members and student workers.

Crew members spend most of their time sorting through trash left on the ground or mixed in with the bags provided for recycling because many people don’t use the bags or use them incorrectly, Lanham said.

Franklin freshman Whitney Allen, who is part of the recycling crew, said it’s important to recycle during tailgating.

“It just makes sense that, when you have big gatherings, you keep as much from going to the trash as possible,” she said.

Russellville senior Quinna Sydnor is also part of the recycling crew.

She said people often don’t notice they’re throwing many things on the ground that can be recycled because they’re tailgating to have fun.

The recycling crew gives tailgaters blue trash bags and tells them to use the bags for recycling, Sydnor said.

About 5 percent of the bags collected at the end of tailgating contain just recyclables, Lanham said.

Allen said she thinks people have good intentions to recycle, but they end up putting a lot of things in the blue bags that can’t be recycled.

“Sometimes it gets too full of trash that you can’t sort through it,” she said.

Sydnor said it’s frustrating when there’s trash in the recycling bags.

“We don’t get paid to dig through trash — we get paid to recycle,” she said.

People seemed confused when the crew came around and told them to recycle during the first few tailgating days of the semester, Syndor said. But people were more open to recycling as the crew kept coming to tailgating.

The day after tailgating, the crew sorts the recyclables into categories of plastic, aluminum and glass before taking them to the recycling center downtown, Lanham said.

The crew collected 30 pounds of plastic, 130 pounds of aluminum and 320 pounds of glass during Homecoming tailgating, Lanham said.

She said glass bottles aren’t allowed at tailgating, though.

Sustainability Coordinator Christian Ryan-Downing said recycling at tailgating is problematic.

“Solid waste is definitely a problem of tailgating that doesn’t really come to light,” she said. “It’s like the dark side of tailgating.”