Trash left from tailgaters Saturday seemed to be significantly less than it was for the season’s home opener, but it is unclear if the reduction came from the University’s increased clean-up efforts or from the rain keeping tailgaters indoors.

“It’s kind of hard to judge [why there was less trash], with this time the pouring down rain and the extra trash cans,” said Pendy Bowers, a 1974 University alumna who has been coming to campus to tailgate for about 12 years, in a telephone interview Sunday. “With the University making sure trash containers were out, I think that was a huge help. But I think maybe the rain complicated things a bit.”

Bowers, who tailgated at the South Campus deck on Lumpkin Street Saturday, said so far this year there has been less trash in that area.

“In years past, there were a couple of groups that tailgated by us that were very, very trashy,” she said. “But they haven’t been there in the last two years and that has helped our area.”

Mitch Bivins, a University alum, also said he felt the trash this year was not significantly more than in years past.

“[It's] not more than any other game,” said Bivins, who has been tailgating in the parking lot on Hull Street for 12 years. “We’re very cognizant of not leaving anything behind that’s not in receptacles.”

Tim Forshee, a University alum from Tifton, said he had an easier time this weekend finding places to throw away his trash.

“I’m depositing trash in the disposal cans that are scattered around,” said Forshee, who was tailgating near Greek Park. “Two weeks ago, there were a couple cans on the other side of the parking lot, and I had to walk a little ways to find one. Now we got one on our side of the parking lot.”

Students tailgating Saturday said they could also see the difference in their areas, which are normally different than those where alumni tailgate.

“They’re doing a good job with getting more cans, bags and things like that,” said Chris Laney, a senior from Cumming. “They’re definitely taking steps in the right direction to get it cleaned.”

Laney, who was tailgating on the Myers quad, said he saw four or five groups handing out trash bags, but thought recycling efforts could be improved.

“It’s something that should be addressed and made better,” he said. “Recycling is just hard to do in general. It’s hard to find places on campus to recycle.”

Caitlin Smith, a member of Gameday Recycles, said the group’s recycling efforts went well Saturday, but the rain put a damper on some of their plans.

“It was raining, so there wasn’t as many tailgates or people going into the game,” Smith said in a telephone interview Sunday.

She said on Saturday afternoon, the group had about 10 or 15 volunteers who were passing out recycling bags and talking to tailgaters about the importance of recycling.

Many tailgaters said they were doing their part to keep campus clean.

“The [Master's of Business Administration] tailgate brings our own trashbags to help mitigate that extra trash on campus,” said Svend Egholm, a second-year MBA student from New York. “Last home game I felt like UGA didn’t provide enough trash cans and port-a-potties for the thousands of people that tailgate.”

Travis Proctor, a Bulldog fan from Palmetto, said the group he tailgates with always throws away their trash before the game.

“We are saving America one beer at a time,” he said.

Bowers said her group has been bringing their own trash bags for years and has sometimes just put the trash in the car when they couldn’t find a place to throw it away.

“We used to tailgate on River Road about 10 years ago and there was nowhere to throw away trash,” she said. “So we would just pack it up and bring it all the way back to South Georgia with us.”

Still, some tailgaters are calling on the administration to look deeper into what might be causing the problem in the first place.

“I would hope that the city of Athens and the University and all the stakeholders would really get together and have this conversation aNd find the right way to deal with it,” said Carl Parks, a 1968 University alum who was tailgating between Lumpkin Street and Boggs Hall. “They really need to find out what’s causing the problem and deal with it in a responsible way and not overreact.”

Parks said he feared a crackdown in tailgating would make the experience less fun for fans.

“It seems like every year they find more ways to ratchet things down, [and University] President [Michael] Adams comes up with something else to make it more complicated and difficult for people to tailgate and have a good time,” he said.

Bivins said the University should remember that football and tailgating is a revenue generator for the community.

“Unless the University does away with the football program, you’re not going to do away with the amount of trash,” he said.

- Contributing: Leah Bishop, Mimi Ensley, Robbie Ottley and Drew Wheatley