The first Army ROTC Stadium clean-up for the 2022 football season – Folsom Field – September 25, 2022
Army ROTC Cadets receiving instructions on what refuse goes into what bag during the Stadium Clean-up after the second home football game of the 2022 season. Photo courtesy of the Golden Buffalo Battalion.
Cadets from the Army ROTC Golden Buffalo Battalion showed up in force for their first Stadium Clean-up in the early hours of Sunday, September 25, 2022. The morning began with a short briefing by the Athletics Department showing what found items go into which bag. The clear bag is for recyclable items, the green bag is for compostable items, and the black bag is for items brought into the stadium by attendees, not purchased by the stadium vendors – which are required to use compostable products.
Army ROTC Cadet dumping out liquids into a bucket during the Stadium Clean-up on Sunday. Photo courtesy of the Golden Buffalo Battalion.
After the training, Cadets gather around Gate 7 to don latex gloves and grab a bag to begin their sweep of the stands. They start on the Champion Center (northeast) side and work their way around the oval to the Press Box (northwest) side. Bending down to pick up all items left over from the home game between CU and UCLA. Items like half eaten hotdogs wrapped in tin foil, boxes of popcorn, empty plastic water bottles, beer cans, peanut shells, candy wrappers, Ziploc bags, wipes, pizza crust, and much, much more were found throughout the stadium perimeter. Each Cadet was tasked with deciding, based upon the training given earlier, which item goes into which of the three bags (clear, green or black).
Army ROTC Cadet placing cans and bottles items into the clear bag. Photo courtesy of the Golden Buffalo Battalion.
CU Athletics contracts on an annual basis with the 3 CU ROTC units on campus (Army, Air Force, and Navy/Marines) to conduct the Stadium Clean-ups each football season. The clean-up includes inside the Folsom Stadium stands, the Franklin Field tailgate lot and the perimeter around the Stadium. Each ROTC unit is assigned two of the six total home games on the schedule. The Army ROTC department uses the money received from the clean-ups to fund equipment purchases, program enrichment and Cadet related events.
Army ROTC Cadet placing compostable items into the green bag. Photo courtesy of the Golden Buffalo Battalion.
The temperature began in the upper 40’s / lower 50’s, which made the clean-up a little brisk to start things off. But Cadets soon warmed up as they weaved through the stands and surrounding areas to manually pick-up all recycling and trash left behind by the previous days football fans. Once the full sweep of the stands was completed, the Cadets were issued leaf blowers, brooms and shovels to start the second half of the clean-up process – to remove all of the smaller remnants still remaining in the stands. A few lucky Cadets were assigned to drive the Athletics golf cart around the main bowl walkway to gather up all of the full clear recycling bags. The bags were taken to the Gate 7 concourse stairway where they were manually transported down to the 40-foot recycling roll-off waiting on Franklin Drive. Cadets had to open each bag and the contents were emptied into the roll-off. The entire operation typically takes about 4-5 hours.
Army ROTC Cadets use a golf cart to move the full clear bags to one central location. Photo courtesy of the Golden Buffalo Battalion.
The Army ROTC Golden Buffalo Battalion would like to thank the CU Athletics department for providing this “fundraising” opportunity.
Army ROTC Cadets in good spirits as they sweep, shovel and blow the remaining debris from the stands. Photo courtesy of the Golden Buffalo Battalion.
Army ROTC Cadets take time out to from sweeping to pose for a group picture. Photo courtesy of the Golden Buffalo Battalion.
Army ROTC Cadets smile for the camera before going back to their sweeping duties. Photo courtesy of the Golden Buffalo Battalion.