A student-led initiative that aims to increase the University of Central Florida’s recycling rate on game days will kick off at the spring football game Saturday, April 22, which is Earth Day.
Knights Go Green will feature 40 to 60 student volunteers stationed near recycling and trash bins on Memory Mall and at Bright House Networks Stadium, to help inform people what can be recycled. Student volunteers also will pick up recyclable items that are left behind at Memory Mall and other tailgating areas.
Zachary Good, Volunteer UCF environmental director and a sophomore political science student, developed the plans for Knights Go Green after learning of the success that other universities, such as the University of Colorado and Arizona State University, have experienced with their recycling programs.
“Education, in my opinion, is the biggest component for bridging the gap between apathy and inconvenience that hold a lot of individuals back from recycling,” Good said. “Knights Go Green provides volunteer opportunities to students while simultaneously educating tailgaters and attendees of the game on how to appropriately dispose of their waste.”
The spring game will be a pilot for Knights Go Green, which is being led by Volunteer UCF in partnership with the Student Government Association and several UCF departments. The program is expected to continue into the 2017 football season and also could eventually expand to basketball games and other events on campus.
Volunteers can be students, staff or faculty members. To sign up, go to signupgenius.com/go/409044bafab2ba2ff2-knights.
Tailgating Times for Spring Game
As in prior seasons, tailgating for the spring game will be allowed only in the E lots around Bright House Networks Stadium and at Memory Mall.
The E lots will open to all fans at 9 a.m. Memory Mall will open at 12:30 p.m. for students and alumni who have made reservations in advance. The open container waiver for both the stadium lots and Memory Mall will begin at 12:30 p.m.
Tailgating in all lots and the open container waiver will conclude at 6 p.m., 30 minutes prior to the 6:30 p.m. kickoff.
Reservations will become available for students and alumni at 6 p.m. Sunday, April 16. To sign up, go to ucfsga.com/knightsonthemall.
Knights fans also on April 22 can join in on the second annual UCFastival, which will include pre-game events like food truck wars and a concert from country music singer Lauren Alaina. Festivities begin at 11 a.m. For more information, see the UCF Knights website.
New Tailgating Policies for Regular Season
For UCF’s seven regular season home games, tailgating on Memory Mall and in most other areas of campus will now start six hours prior to kickoff – but no earlier than 8 a.m. To encourage Knights fans to arrive at the stadium before games begin, tailgating will conclude 30 minutes prior to kickoff.
UCF and the Student Government Association wanted to bring the tailgating times more in line with the policies of the National Football League and American Athletic Conference teams.
UCF’s new policy permits 5½ hours of tailgating for most games. The NFL permits 5 hours, and American schools generally allow between 4 and 6 hours of tailgating.
For the regular season, the E lots near the stadium, which are primarily reserved for Golden Knights Club donors, will continue to open at 8 a.m. on all game days.