After members of the Green Sports Alliance—a coalition of more than 300 university and professional sports organizations striving to help sports teams, venues, and leagues enhance their environmental performance—toured Stanford’s facilities during the alliance’s annual summit in July 2014, the Department of Athletics, Physical Education, and Recreation (DAPER) identified and expanded sustainability efforts across its operations. The group has made significant strides to reduce energy and water consumption, minimize waste production, and increase outreach to the community to help facilitate savings.

For the 2015 season, DAPER added recycling collection in all lots for football game tailgating and participated in the Pac-12 and RecycleMania Game Day challenges to raise awareness of recycling, composting, and waste minimization. New water bottle refilling stations in recreational facilities help encourage the use of reusable bottles, and a new janitorial contract includes a “green cleaning” program. Additionally, in response to the ongoing drought, the organization has reduced its irrigation by 30% and installed artificial turf in ornamental landscaping at its facilities. To help conserve energy, LED lighting has been installed in all of the Maples locker rooms. DAPER has also worked with its “red coat” ambassadors to help educate guests about its commitment to sustainability, and partnered with Residential & Dining Enterprises to educate students living on campus.