Brendan Reilly, a University of Colorado work-study student sorts recyclable materials at the campus Intermediate Processing Facility on Tuesday. CU officials announced Tuesday the launch of "Ralphie's Green Stampede", a program to make home football games at Folsom Field "zero waste".

The University of Colorado is pledging to become "zero waste" at Folsom Field this football season -- an environmental program that will mean no more trash cans in the stadium, valet parking for fans who arrive on bikes and compostable nacho trays.

CU officials made the announcement Tuesday, and the Buffs will become the first major collegiate or professional sports program in the nation to tackle a zero-waste challenge, said CU Athletic Director Mike Bohn.

About 60 tons of game-day garbage was sent to landfills last football season, amounting to an average of 10 tons of trash fromeach home event.

This season, environmental czars expect to recycle or compost 90 percent of the waste from home football games.

Student volunteers will staff the 50-some recycling stations throughout the stadium, helping football fans toss their trash into the right bins. CU's Reserve Officers' Training Corps units will help with cleaning up after games.

Finished compost will be returned to CU for campus landscaping.

Nearly all the food and drinks sold in Folsom will be packaged in recyclable or compostable containers, according to the school. CU will contract with Boulder-based Eco-Products Inc., which makes biodegradable products, such as sugarcane plates and corn cutlery, that will compost -- unlike petroleum-based that depend on oil.

Since there will be no trash cans, non-recyclable garbage -- most of which will have been brought in by fans -- will be plucked out of the recycle bins after the game.

CU spokesman Bronson Hilliard quipped that security officers won't be patting down fans for cardboard, or banning non-recyclable items like candy wrappers from coming into the stadium.

White Wave Foods is the primary sponsor of the program, which has been dubbed "Ralphie's Green Stampede" with the stadium in turn advertising the Boulder-based organic-food company.

The university has not conducted a formal cost analysis of the program, Hilliard said. The school expects the launch will be low cost, and the newly stepped-up green measures won't cost more to conduct than current clean-up practices.

"With this measure, CU Athletics is taking a bold step, in sync with its student, faculty and campus leadership, toward keeping CU at the vanguard of sustainability leaders, where it has been for nearly 40 years," said Dave Newport, director of the CU's Environmental Center.

The nation's first student-led environmental center was born atCU on Earth Day in 1970. In 2000, CU students voted to purchase renewable wind-energy credits to match power used in all major campus construction projects, also a first for college campuses.

The student-union this year also began requiring all student-funded events that include food to be zero waste.

CU is supporting Gov. Bill Ritter's climate action plan that targets a 20 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2020 and an 80 percent reduction by 2050. CU officials say the athletic department's new pledge is another step toward carbon neutrality on the campus.

The zero-waste and recycling efforts in Folsom could save as much as 455 million BTUs of energy -- equivalent to the total annual energy use of four U.S. households, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

CU's athletic department also will invest in local carbon-reduction projects to match energy used to power the stadium and for the football team's travel.

In an effort to encourage fans to ride their bikes to games, there will be valet bike parking at the nearby Franklin Field.

Victoria Garcia, a CU student body president, said she hopes that the campus' program becomes a model for other schools nationwide to follow.

Contact Camera Staff Writer Brittany Anas at 303-473-1132 or anasb@dailycamera.com.