The Beaver Athlete Sustainability Team, a student-athlete club focused on educating and raising awareness about climate change, offers Oregon State University athletes a unique opportunity to take environmental action in their community. 

Founded in 2016, BAST was created with the goal of promoting sustainable practices within the athletic department, educating student-athletes about environmental issues and creating change toward sustainable living within the athletic community. 

The BAST mission statement reads, “Our goal is to educate and influence fellow athletes in hopes of amplifying sustainable habits… By using our status as Division 1 student-athletes, we are committed to bringing awareness to the sports community and creating long-lasting changes to move toward a more sustainable future.”

According to BAST’s community service chair, fourth-year men’s rower Phil Seeger, BAST’s biggest community service initiative is always sorting cans after home football games. 

OSU home football games serve drinks in plastic bottles and soda cans. These drinks are collected by Campus Recycling, and BAST works with them to help sort these recyclables.

“We go to the OSU barn right behind Reser Stadium and we sort out plastic water bottles and cans. It’s a good time,” said second-year men’s rower and BAST’s social media chair Ryan McCabe. “We just put on some tunes, put the minds to rest and we just sort cans.” 

In 2022, 15 BAST members, alongside Campus Recycling, sorted 67% of redeemable beverage containers — totaling around 50,000 items — after home football games, raising $5,000 for the OSU Athletics Sustainability Fund.

According to McCabe, this year, BAST’s focus remains on educating the school and athletics department about sustainability and maintaining OSU’s reputation as one of the cleanest schools in the PAC-12.

Aside from can sorting, BAST works with the Corvallis Parks and Recreation Department to do volunteer work, especially within the wetlands around Corvallis. BAST also occasionally goes to Newport to do beach cleanups. 

“We do a lot of volunteer work, which I really like. I love getting hands-on in the community,” McCabe said. “We’re giving back to the community that we get to live in.” 

In past years, BAST has done river clean-up projects, restored habitats in Bald Hill and helped build dams along the Dunawi Creek. 

Seeger said BAST is open to any athlete at OSU, nondependent on major, year or sport.