What do you get when you combine nearly a half-million football tailgaters, nine tons of cans and bottles and a group of environmentally conscience volunteers? Enough recycled materials to save 4,500 gallons of crude oil and power nine family homes for a year.

The Mountaineers Recycle program has released the figures from the fall efforts at West Virginia Universitys Mountaineer Field.

According to project organizer Barbara Angeletti of WVU Facilities and Services, volunteers set up 219 gold-colored, recycling bins around the stadium and handed out plastic, recycling bags to groups of tailgaters before each game. Fans were asked to collect recyclables and deposit them in the bins as they left the stadium. Volunteers then dove in to process and delivered the materials for recycling at local centers.

The results? An estimated 410,000-plus fans generated more than 18,000 pounds of aluminum, plastic and glass. Nearly 170,000 cans and bottles and four tons of cardboard were collected during the seasons seven home gamesenough to save the equivalent of 66 trees, 97,800 kilowatts of electricity or 3,900 gallons of gasoline.

And they ensured that some 34 metric tons of carbon dioxide was prevented from being released into the air as a result of the recycling efforts. The materials would have otherwise ended up in land fills further contributing to environmental concerns and taking up valuable land fill space.

In addition, proceeds raised from the recycled materials totaled $2,100 and benefited WVU Childrens Hospital.

WVU President David C. Hardesty Jr. honored the participants with a recent luncheon in the Rhododendron Room at the Mountainlair, where they were presented with certificates signed by Hardesty, Gov. Joe Manchin and Cabinet Secretary Stephanie Timmermeyer.

Originally developed by the Governors Rehabilitation Environmental Action Plan, the Mountaineers Recycle program is now a joint effort between many partners.

Coordination for the Mountaineers Recycle program at the stadium included logistic support from WVU Intercollegiate Athletics, WVU Facilities Management, the Department of Environmental Protection, Monongalia County Solid Waste Authority, Coca-Cola Bottling Company Consolidated, Mighty Bright and Allied Waste.

Many local businesses also provided support including Qdoba Mexican Grille, Papa Johns Pizza, Long John Silvers, Bi-Lo (now Shop and Save), Kroger, Subway, Starbucks and Target.

Efforts for the project have been continued into the winter months and are currently ongoing at the Coliseum as a part of basketball season.