In the sports greening arena, the adoption of recycling and composting programs is proceeding at an increased pace. To ensure efficient and effective implementation, buy-in must occur at all levels of an organization, starting at the top.
Nate Clark
BioCycle June 2014
In the business of professional and collegiate sports, with top priority on championships, player injuries, and filling stadium seats, attending a meeting with Martin Tull, Executive Director of the Green Sports Alliance (Alliance), seems like a walk in the ballpark. “When we speak to potential members, we often say, ‘Would you like to know how other teams are saving millions of dollars through conservation programs?’” states Tull. “Almost always they answer, ‘Yes! We would like to know more!’” Increasingly, more and more teams are finding it harder to turn down what Tull and the Alliance have to offer.
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Vulcan Sports and Entertainment (a division of Paul G. Allen’s Vulcan Inc. which owns the Seattle Seahawks, Seattle Sounders, and Portland TrailBlazers) founded the Alliance in 2010 with a stated mission, “to help enhance the environmental performance of sports teams, venues and leagues.” In just three years after the national launch, Alliance membership has grown from six teams to over 230 professional and collegiate sports teams and venues, representing nearly half of all teams in all professional leagues in the United States.
The Alliance promotes environmental initiatives, ranging from nontoxic and effective cleaning solutions for venues, to alternative transportation for getting fans to and from games. One area of sports greening that has seen a lot of recent growth is recycling and composting programs at sports venues. The Alliance assists members with implementation of necessary program components in coordination with organizations like the NRDC and representatives from supporting industries, such as the compostable products industry. In March 2014, Darby Hoover, NRDC Senior Resource Specialist, authored the Guide to Composting at Sports Venues. The guide provides step-by-step advice on establishing or expanding organics recycling programs at sports venues, utilizing case studies and profiles to exhibit how various teams have developed strategies for making organics recycling work at their venue. Steve Davies is the Director of Marketing/Public Affairs for NatureWorks LLC, one of the largest producers of compostable polylactic polymer plastics branded under the name Ingeo. BioCycle had the opportunity to speak with Tull, Hoover and Davies, to learn about some of the necessary components for establishing recycling and composting programs at sports venues, and how the Alliance and NRDC help to facilitate these programs.
Necessary Components
Buy-In
To ensure efficient and effective institution of any policy change that modifies “business as usual,” buy-in must occur at all levels of an organization, starting at the top. The case is no different for implementers of greening programs at sports venues. “We started at the top with the Commissioners of each league, encouraging them to adopt environmental initiatives,” notes Hoover. “This communication prompted each Commissioner to issue a statement saying sustainability is a priority for their respective leagues. This was highly beneficial when we began reaching out to teams, because they already knew sustainability initiatives were supported by the league. Having buy-in all the way to the top is key to us — we need to keep everyone talking the same language.”
The Alliance helps to facilitate buy-in from professional and collegiate teams by highlighting the financial savings associated with greening initiatives. “We always start with the business case for sustainability — if you can make the business case, then you don’t have to rest on the environmental impacts or altruistic reasons for implementing greening programs,” explains Tull, mentioning that the recent influx of members has certainly added an edge to the argument for joining the Alliance. “We start with the business case, and if we need to throw in the hardball pitch, we go with, ‘Why are you one of the only teams not doing this?”
The trick is finding strategies that continue to promote buy-in down the organizational pecking order, to staff members that may have more work as a result of a recycling or composting program. Exhibiting the impact that these programs can have, whether that is in natural resources saved or greenhouse gas emissions reduced, can be an effective medium of achieving staff buy-in. According to Hoover’s guide, by collecting unsold concession food and redistributing it through food assistance programs, the National Hockey League (NHL) annually diverts 100 tons of food waste from the landfill; provides more than 150,000 meals to hunger relief programs in hockey communities; and reduces approximately 79 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent from the environment. “The main value of these statistics is getting buy-in from everyone involved with a team or sports venue,” explains Hoover. “It is these people that are involved in reducing their organization’s carbon footprint or the amount of food they waste. For this reason, statistics like these often have the most resonance internally.”
Regional Infrastructure And Partnerships
Regional variation in professional and collegiate sports venues makes it difficult to use a “cookie cutter” approach when it comes to greening initiatives, especially recycling and composting programs that rely on multiple partners and regional processing infrastructure to be successful.
A lack of organics recycling processing facilities is sometimes pointed to as an inhibitor for adoption of composting programs at sports venues, but increasingly this is becoming less of an issue. “More and more composters nationally are going through the permitting process to handle food waste,” notes Davies. “Furthermore, there are facility operators who realize they can use compostable bags and serviceware as a tool to increase the amount of food waste taken in.” To elaborate on that point, Hoover says that the commitment of sports venues to divert their organics can encourage development of regional organics recycling infrastructure. “If you are picking up separated organics from a sports facility, you have a predictable, clean stream of material that haulers and facilities will want,” states Hoover. “For this reason, I included a section on infrastructure in the Guide to Composting at Sports Venues. Sports facility operators don’t necessarily need to know many details about different composting systems, but an increase in the development of organics recycling infrastructure is something I feel teams are able to encourage.”
Once the infrastructure variable has been figured out, it becomes essential to open conversations with all the stakeholders involved to ensure everyone has the same idea for an effective recycling and/or composting program, and that the idea works for everyone. This can be a lot easier for composting initiatives if recycling programs at venues are already in place. “If infrastructure and messaging around recycling already exists by the time a composting program is implemented, then teams and venues already have a lot of the information they need to set up the infrastructure and involve partners for an organics recycling program,” notes Hoover. “We encourage building on communication and infrastructure that teams already have in place by the time they initiate composting programs.”
And when the decision is made to begin a composting program at a sports venue, implementers find it is easiest to start small in areas where staff still has control over collection. “Often times composting programs start at the suite level, where venue staff is still collecting material,” states Davies. “Once a venue has shown that they can collect source separated organics, and those organics can go through local processing infrastructure, then a venue will propagate that program throughout the whole stadium or arena.”
The Alliance facilitates strong partnerships between sports venues and stakeholders in the service, hauling and processing industries by bringing all parties together to discuss challenges they are facing, and cooperative solutions. For example, the Alliance recently convened a roundtable discussion in Washington, D.C., that brought together a number of food and beverage service providers to talk about sustainability, issues of food waste, and the roles that individual parties can have in tackling those issues.
Procurement
Sports venues have a large advantage over municipalities when it comes to implementing alternative waste management programs — almost every single item that goes into refuse bins is sold on-site. For this reason, it becomes essential to put forethought into the food service products that will be distributed at a venue. “When you factor procurement into part of your waste program, you are essentially developing your own zero waste philosophy and process, looking at what comes in as a determinant of what goes out,” explains Hoover. “If you want to divert food waste in plates, bowls and cups, then in many cases these items must be compostable as well to capture the food waste. For a composter to want these items, they need to actually compost. It is critical to work with serviceware providers to obtain compostable serviceware that’s compliant with ASTM compostability standards, and also to work with processors to make sure that serviceware breaks down at their facility.”
The issue of “compostable serviceware actually breaking down” has become a common theme surrounding compostable products, and something that industry proponents must constantly overcome. (See sidebar, “Composting Compostable Products.”) “This is frustrating for the compostable products industry, because time and time again, we have gone to a specific composter to analyze the plastic ‘overs’, and found that what’s left over after the composting process are not actually compostable plastics,” explains Davies. “Many times it is petro plastics that shouldn’t have been there or compostable plastics with petro plastic additives.” This situation emphasizes how important procurement of compostable serviceware can be, and how critical it is to do research on which products have proven to be successful for venues in similar regions with similar processing capacity. “This issue is fixable, but it creates the short term misperception that these products aren’t composting,” he adds.
The Alliance takes a role in assisting its members to procure serviceware. “For the last three years, we have been talking with members to understand what compostable or recyclable products they are using, why they chose them, and how those products have worked in their particular environment with their particular composting or recycling solution,” explains Tull. “From these conversations, we have gotten a clear sense of certain products that work well in a number of venues.” In addition to supporting venues with procurement of serviceware, the Alliance has been an exceptional support to the overall compostable products industry. “We love what the Alliance is bringing to the compostable products industry,” notes Davies. “The Alliance is taking compostable products out of the ‘green space’ and bringing them to the mainstream, while at the same time saying ‘you can save money doing this’!” This point is not lost on Tull. “Another role the Alliance is playing is helping to build demand from sports teams for sustainability products,” he adds.
Fan Education
After buy-in from top to bottom has been accomplished, regional partners and processors have been figured out, and food serviceware has been procured, the next step is to educate fans about their role in the greening initiative. Implementers of alternative waste disposal programs at sports venues find that when it comes to fan education, two types exist: the “what bin each specific discard goes into” type that is necessary for programs to run effectively; and the “fan engagement piece” that represents an opportunity to explain why these programs are in place and why fans should care about them. Although the second type of education does occur in more environmentally progressive regions and is starting to be seen on a more national scale, it is the first type of education that determines the functionality of programs, and therefore where more work has been focused at this point.
Given that many people tend to gradually consume a beverage, drinking cups provide an opportunity for consumer education.
“We call it the ‘two second critical moment of choice’ — when a fan has something in their hands that they think is trash, and we want them to think of it as a natural resource,” explains Davies. Colocating collection bins for recycling, composting and trash, complemented with signage that is a mixture of words (in whatever languages are most relevant) and images or representations that depict the actual products fans have in their hands are two strategies that have been effective at achieving this type of fan education. “It seems obvious when you see the signs and the bins together, but it is really not that obvious,” he adds. “We as a society do not have our heads wrapped around this — taking the two seconds is hard when you are shoulder to shoulder in a crowd being jostled toward the door.”
Messaging on the products themselves is another strategy that program implementers utilize to educate fans on proper disposal behavior. Although this strategy is not effective with all products, Davies notes that fans have more “intimate” interaction with some products over others, representing different opportunities for education. “People don’t have much of a relationship with packaging typically, but a cup is often different,” he explains. “Whatever you are drinking, you are drinking it for a while, and this provides a chance to do consumer education. We have done this with Coca-Cola® and its compostable cold cup. It has a whole panel on its side that explains about the cup and is intended to engage the consumer about what it is made of and why it is compostable. This may sound odd, but think about a cup compared to a candy wrapper, or the tray that holds your hot dog!”
Fan engagement and education have been an essential part of the Alliance’s undertaking since the very beginning. “We have hosted a number of webinars, Summit panel discussions, and workshops all focused on the topic of fan engagement,” explains Tull. “Our overall focus is always: How do you communicate about environmental initiatives in a way that doesn’t interfere with the fans’ game experience but is also really inspiring?”
Case Studies
A critical element in promoting greening initiatives in sports is documenting the work that has been done, and utilizing these records as models for other venues that are interested in adopting programs of their own. When the Alliance was founded, all six teams were based in the Pacific Northwest. But as evidenced by new members all over the nation, this is no longer the case. “Compostable products used to be seen as a Pacific Northwest thing, but we now have great proof points from the Midwest in Minnesota to Pennsylvania with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Penn State and Philadelphia Flyers,” explains Davies. “These proof points take off the table one misperception — that the trend in use of compostable food serviceware at sports venues [and in general] isn’t national.”
Case studies generated from these proof points are a great tool when reaching out to sports venues about alternative waste disposal initiatives. “Case studies take an abstract discussion and make it real,” states Davies. “As they say, ‘Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’. There is no better example than to show somebody has done this and it has worked.”
Along with examples like the NRDC’s “Game Changer” reports, the Alliance produces case studies of its own. “We have developed case studies around solutions at sports venues,” notes Tull. “Case studies are one way the Alliance helps to share better practices and assist members with procurement. Case studies show how recycling and composting programs involving compostable serviceware could function in many other venues.”
Unified Mission
In just three years, the Green Sports Alliance has exhibited the power of an organization with a unified mission, building on the groundwork laid by NRDC’s sports greening initiatives, and taking on an industry that many never associated with sustainability or environmental awareness. By taking the business approach, and being conscious not to radically change the status quo, the Alliance has been able to instill change that has positive repercussions throughout our society. “I think it is important for teams and facility operators to note that their peers are saving millions of dollars, getting good visibility in their community, and reducing environmental impact by adopting greening strategies,” Tull stated towards the end of our discussion. “We would like to see every sports facility in North America and beyond make it a priority to understand their environmental impact, adopt strategies to minimize those impacts, and allocate staffing to make the greening programs successful.”
Composting Compostable Products
One frequent topic of conversation among composting facility operators is whether or not to accept compostable products such as cups, plates and bags. There is a healthy debate about whether the products will biodegrade within the timeframe (active and curing) and composting process used at their facilities. Recently, BioCycle asked Carla Castagnero, president of AgRecycle, Inc., a source separated organics composting facility in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, what her “gotta do’s” are when it comes to processing compostable products — something AgRecycle does very successfully.
“The first essential element is doing a pregrind,” explains Castagnero. “A composter would never throw a log in a windrow. Certain streams are organic and acceptable but they just need preprocessing. It is that simple for compostable products.” AgRecycle does a pregrind for two reasons, she adds. “Most of the compostable products we receive come in from small restaurants that also include their corrugated in with the food scraps. Typically these restaurants don’t generate enough corrugated to warrant a separate collection as a recyclable. They are thrilled when they can put that in with the other organics. The second reason is that I can’t stand litter. And the compostable cups will blow out of the windrow if they aren’t preground.”
AgRecycle uses a Roto-Mix to size reduce the food waste, compostable products and corrugated, as well as blend those materials prior to composting.
AgRecycle uses a Roto-Mix mixer, size-reducing the material to around 2 inches. The company avoids putting anything over 4 inches in thickness in the Roto-Mix. “The food scraps, compostable products and the corrugated are the only materials on our site that see the mixer,” notes Castagnero. “We have a grinder for yard trimmings. And typical grinders don’t handle corrugated well — it just flies through as a sheet.”The second essential element is to become knowledgeable about the compostable products on the market. “We believe getting knowledgeable has been a key to our success in managing these items,” she says. “For generators that want to divert compostable products to AgRecycle, we will go through what they can buy and help them choose products.” This second element goes hand-in-hand with AgRecycle’s third essential element: The “all or nothing rule.” The company often receives requests from generators about wanting to divert only cold cups, for example. “We will not let generators divert cold cups until every cup in their food scraps stream is compostable,” explains Castagnero. “This is eye-opening for some of our new accounts. But the turnover of food service workers is extremely high, whether it is at corporate cafeterias, sports and entertainment venues, colleges or restaurants. It is terribly unfair to expect the generators to continually train and retrain employees. If we tell them that every cup used has to be compostable, it is a no brainer.”
Overall, AgRecycle is finding that more and more companies and institutions with food service want to divert their food scraps to composting. “If a composter gives them all these requirements, that makes it too difficult for the generators,” Castagnero adds, noting that more and more cafeterias, especially at corporate facilities, are taking out their dishwashers. “It is just so much easier, not only for kitchen staff but for employees to throw their uneaten food in a compostables bin with the plate versus having to scrape off a Styrofoam plate in one container and throw the plate away in another.” And as a parting comment, Castagnero says that the key to achieving biodegradation within the timeframe of a facility’s composting process is making sure piles reach and maintain thermophillic temperatures as required and getting the microbial population “where it needs to be.”
CASE STUDY 1: San Francisco Giants
Most stadium operations managers still can only dream of seeing 100 percent of their waste recycled, composted or reused. But the San Francisco Giants baseball franchise, which began greening AT&T Park operations when the stadium opened in the spring of 2000, know the Holy Grail of 100 percent diversion is possible. In March of 2012, they achieved it.
The San Francisco Giants switched to a recyclable drink cup as some fans were putting the compostable cups in the designated recycling bin.
Photo courtesy of NRDC’s “Guide To Composting At Sports Venues”
Official baseball season was not in full swing, but the stadium hosted exhibition games and other events. “It was not the off-season for us,” says Jorge Costa, senior vice president of ballpark operations. “Now that we’ve reached 100 percent diversion once, I want to keep the pedal to the metal and get as close as we can every month.” For the 2012 and 2013 seasons, the San Francisco Giants achieved diversion rates of 94.56 percent and 94.13 percent, respectively. Total amounts diverted each year are 5,231 tons in 2012 and 3,663 tons in 2013 (see Table 1). The accomplishments led the Major League Baseball (MLB) Sustainable Operations Committee of MLB Stadium Operations Directors to award them the 2013 Green Glove Award for the sixth consecutive year. (The Giants did not participate in post-season play in 2013, accounting for the lower rate of diversion.)According to Costa, one secret to their success is the hand-sorting of waste, which the park’s recycling crew conducts as it comes through the loading dock at the end of every game. Even though it is costly and a dirty job, he says they get their money back. “There is a constant yin and yang of cost evaluations with all of your partners on a systemic level,” explains Costa. “For example, we worked with Recology, our waste partner, to minimize the number of trash hauls and dumping costs. We reevaluated and economized on the bags and bins we’re using. Overall, our recommendation is to evaluate the entire waste management program as one system to identify inefficiencies and cost savings potential. Then plan ahead by calculating how energy and labor cost savings will recover the upfront outlay.”
After starting with compostable plastic cups, the Giants made the same decision as a number of other teams, to use recyclable drink ware because fans did not put them in the compostables bin and they contaminated the waste stream. “There was a time when people were really pushing for compostable plastic cups, but we found that it created some conflict and confusion with the public,” notes Alfonso Felder, senior vice president of facilities. “So… now all of our drink ware is recyclable and [the] food packaging [we use] tends to be compostable. By simplifying that messaging, you create a more effective system.”
Concludes Costa: “I can’t stress it enough: You are never done. I will never say to my staff, ‘We’re in a really good spot.’ I always say, ‘OK, this is where we’re at, now how can we get to the next level or a higher goal? How can we get better by refining our systems even more, making them more efficient and more affordable?’ Today, a 75 percent diversion rate would be a failure.” — Marsha W. Johnston
CASE STUDY 2: U.S. Open Tennis Championships
For over 130 years, late summer has marked one of the oldest tennis events in the world, the United States Open Tennis Championships [formerly called the grass court U.S. National Championship]. Since 1978, the U.S. jewel in the international Grand Slam tennis crown has played out at the United States Tennis Association (USTA) Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York.
Started at the 2013 U.S. Open, the USTA provides the public with only recycling and composting receptacles (left). Janitorial staff use chutes that go directly into the compactors designated for the compostables, recyclables and trash streams (middle). Fan education includes signage in the flower beds amended with compost made from the previous year’s tournament (right).
Photos courtesy of the U.S. Tennis Association
In 2007, the USTA Board decided it was time for the U.S. Open to become a model sporting event for reduced waste and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. USTA board president Jane Brown Grimes and tennis legend Billie Jean King led the charge, bringing in the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) to assess the U.S. Open’s greening program to date. “It wasn’t much,” acknowledges Lauren Kittelstad Tracy, USTA senior manager for strategic initiatives. “Maybe we were recycling a little bit, but in 2008 when we really launched the program, we started recycling, evaluating our energy use, and making the little changes that had a huge impact.”The venue began with a plastic and aluminum can recycling program that used 80 new recycling receptacles, diverting 85 tons and avoiding over 260 tons of GHG emissions. The following year, the USTA and food concessionaire Levy Restaurants began a pilot collecting food prep waste in one back-of-the-house kitchen and, over the next two tournaments, expanded it to the rest of its backstage kitchens and suites. For the 2011 U.S. Open, composting was introduced to fans by expanding the operation to the Food Village; the stadium was added in 2012. Tracy acknowledges that the 2011 fan-generated waste stream had more contaminants than the kitchen operations.
Fast-forward to today. As of last year’s U.S. Open, food waste is captured everywhere food is served. “Now we have just two containers, with a blue sticker for recycling and green for composting,” Tracy explains. “We tried to make it as simple as possible, and to make as much as possible compostable. We are constantly working with our concessionaire to find the right materials, and educating fans that the fries container can go into compost.” To continue educating fans, the U.S. Open includes information about its sustainability initiatives in the tournament program and clear labeling on waste receptacles and cups to instruct fans that they are compostable.
U.S. Open janitorial staff empties the recycling and composting receptacles into chutes that go directly into compactors in the back of the house. There is a dedicated trash chute, which is for back-of-the-house items such as food prep gloves, food-contaminated plastics, and cleaning materials. All of the U.S. Open’s recyclables, including hard-to-recycle tennis ball cans, is sent to Boro Wide Recycling in Maspeth, New York. “Boro Wide has people sorting everything on a conveyor belt, with a specific person assigned to a material such as aluminum,“ says Tracy. Organics from the tournament are hauled to Peninsula Compost in Wilmington, Delaware.
Since 2011, the U.S. Open has more than doubled its waste diversion rate, from 28 percent to 63 percent in 2013, and has diverted 1,200 tons of waste since the entire effort began in 2008. “We’re really proud of this [diversion rate] number,” she adds, noting that being a two-week event means working extra hard to ensure that seasonal staff understands their processes. “I know certain stadiums have an awesome process in the back of the house for sorting, etc, but we just don’t have the staff or the space to do that.“ And the U.S. Open keeps innovating. Last year, the tournament’s flowerbeds used compost generated from the 2012 organic waste, and USTA will do the same this year. ”By doing this kind of closed loop, it helps fans to see that what they do really does make a difference,” concludes Tracy.
M.W.J.
CASE STUDY 3: Vancouver Canucks
In executing a zero waste initiative, reengineering a stadium or arena’s concessions stream with regard to organics is typically the largest — and often thorniest — piece of the puzzle. For the Vancouver Canucks professional hockey team, it was decided that the best way to meet its waste reduction targets was to manage the food and beverage operations themselves. “When a third party is running your business, you don’t have as much control over the experience and quality, and they often don’t see the investment as important as you do,” explains Michael Doyle, Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Vancouver Canucks’ Rogers Arena. “Our food supplier was having trouble getting all of its suppliers to switch [to recyclables]. So this year we are taking over food and beverage internally, and one of our mandates is to switch everything to either recyclable or compostable. It was a decision made by the club president, owners and me. Everyone was on board.”
The decision is well timed, as Rogers Arena is in the middle of a comprehensive redevelopment, resulting from the addition of four LEED-Gold certified mixed-use towers on top of its mid-90s structure. “We’re building the towers, expanding the concourses, and investing in a new state-of-the-art kitchen,” says Doyle. The Canucks spent over $150,000 for bins and 3-stream sorting receptacles to execute the zero waste initiative it launched in late 2012. In addition to the standard Recyclable-Compostable-Trash receptacle signage, the Canucks added a “STOP: Do you want to put this in landfill?” label to the Trash bin. In the first year, Rogers Arena saved over $35,000 in landfill costs, and Doyle expects a full payback within 2.5 years, primarily from the savings from trash disposal. “The labor we use for waste sorting is a monthly piece that is eventually offset by saving money from pick ups for landfill,” he notes, adding that the Canucks also get a small revenue stream from recyclables.
Rogers Arena, home of the Vancouver (British Columbia) Canucks professional hockey team, launched its zero waste program in late 2012. The program includes 3-stream sorting stations (left), toters for organics collection (middle) and sorted recyclables (right).
Photos courtesy of the Vancouver Canucks
The Canucks’ zero waste program is expected to hit its 80 percent waste diversion target next year, two years ahead of its original 2017 target. “We are already at 63 percent, and we expect 70 percent by the end of 2014,” says Doyle. Once it has streamlined its serviceware to be either 100 percent compostable or recyclable, the Arena will replace the trash bin with a second recyclable bin. “They will both recycle the same products, we will just eliminate the landfill piece,” he explains. “People will know it goes in one or the other. We had that intention from the beginning, because we always knew we needed more recyclables capacity.” He adds that the Canucks switched from compostable to recyclable cups halfway through last year because of fan confusion and waste stream contamination. “People couldn’t believe a cup was compostable,” he notes.In the Rogers Arena waste management hierarchy, reuse trumps both recycling and composting, so it established procedures to donate unsold food to its local food bank after every event. “If something was prepped and not sold at the end of the night, such as pizzas and sandwiches, we hold them in refrigeration and donate them the next morning,” adds Doyle. “Anything that has been served goes into composting.” In 2013, 7,500 pounds of food were donated. Diversion of other materials are: organics—115 tons; recyclables—114 tons; cardboard and mixed paper—68 tons.
Doyle notes the biggest contributions to advancing the program have come from the City of Vancouver and Waste Management (WM). The City reinforces the waste reduction messaging and provides volunteers at events to help fans figure out where to put their waste, while WM, “…has been integral in getting us to this level, helping us measure and identifying opportunities to get to the next level.” M.W.J.
CASE STUDY 4: Penn State University’s Beaver Stadium
The Pennsylvania State University (PSU) campus in State College is no stranger to waste reduction initiatives. The university has had its own composting facility for years that processes leaves, grass, brush and other landscape trimmings along with preconsumer food waste from dining halls, and pre and postconsumer food waste from the hotels on campus. “We also have been a leader in tailgating waste diversion during Nittany Lion home games,” notes Judd Michael, a sustainable packaging specialist based in PSU’s Department of Agricultural and Bio-Engineering. “But until last year, we hadn’t expanded those diversion practices into Beaver Stadium, home of Penn State football, aside from aluminum can and plastic bottle recycling.”
Compostable serviceware supplied by Stalk Market was used in the Presidential and Governmental Affairs suites during the 2013 Nittany Lions football season (left). MBA students served as Zero Waste Ambassadors, assisting fans with sorting in the GreenDrop zero waste stations (middle). Diverted organics were composted at Penn State’s on-campus composting facility (right).
Photos courtesy of Penn State University
In the spring of 2013, Penn State reached out to the Green Sports Alliance and the Natural Resources Defense Council for guidance on how to adopt zero waste practices at Beaver Stadium. “While we were together, we got the idea to apply for a grant from the university’s Sustainability Institute to pilot an initiative in several of the suites for the Fall 2013 season,” explains Michael. “We received support from PSU’s president’s office, which was very important to initiating the pilot.” Beaver Stadium has multiple levels of suites, and it was decided to implement the pilot in the Presidential and Governmental Affairs suites, which accommodate about 500 people. “Guests in these suites include elected officials, corporate CEOs and big donors,” he adds. “Starting in these suites was a way to showcase sustainability initiatives on campus and test out zero waste practices.”During the summer, Michael began working with the supply chain necessary to implement the pilot. He contacted NatureWorks, LLC about making the food service ware in the suites ASTM D6400 certified compostable and of high enough quality for a high-end clientele. NatureWorks reached out to Stalk Market to donate the tableware, including utensils, bowls, cups and plates. While attending the 2013 Green Sports Summit in New York City last August, Michael met a representative from GreenDrop Recycling, which makes zero waste sorting stations. GreenDrop agreed to donate the stations it was displaying at the Summit to PSU for use in the suites. “They shipped 8 of their units to State College,” he says. “Having the right kind of sorting stations made a huge difference.” He also recruited students in PSU’s Masters of Business Administration program to serve as Zero Waste Ambassadors in the suites during the games. Students assisted guests in sorting, as well as explained the goals of the zero waste program.
“We went from about 92 percent diversion after the first game to over 99 percent after that,” notes Michael. “We took the sorted materials to a special dumpster at the stadium, and then conducted audits on each stream the day after the game. By the last game, we only had 1.2 lbs of trash — only metallic tea bags and cocoa packets. We talked with Hospitality Services, PSU’s internal food service provider, about providing an urn of hot cocoa for this coming season.” Michael’s team achieved 100 percent diversion in the two suites at PSU’s Blue-White spring football game this April, so they are confident that true zero waste can be achieved for the fall season.
Among the lessons learned — similar to other stadium zero waste programs — is the critical need for fan education. “While the younger generation is more familiar with these practices, few older people understand that today’s food service items are compostable,” explains Michael. “We saw consistently that the children, when instructed, already knew what to do. Young kids get it. But we did find a big change as we went through the season. People knew what to do after one or two games.”
Plans for the 2014 fall season include expanding the zero waste program to all of the stadium’s suites. The Athletic Department, which manages Beaver Stadium, is evaluating options to expand the program stadium-wide, which will include working with the concession stands, where food service items are procured through PSU’s main purchasing office. As for the university’s composting facility, which is operated by PSU’s Office of Physical Plant, processing the organics from Beaver Stadium was pretty straightforward. “We’ve been handling source separated food waste and compostable products for a number of years,” notes Nadine Davitt, who manages the composting site. “We required that the serviceware be certified compostable, which it was. And we know these materials compost.” The campus composting site processes about 3,000 tons/year of organics; about half are comprised of campus food waste. –Nora Goldstein
