This year’s Super Bowl will be zero-waste

The American National Football League (NFL) is pledging that Super Bowl LII will be a zero-waste event for yet another year, perpetuating its green legacy. 

NFL has partnered with PepsiCo, food services company Aramark, U.S Bank Stadium- home of Minnesota Vikings and the host stadium for the 52nd Super Bowl, and the Minnesota Sports Facility Authority to launch the Ruch2Recycle initiative- a strategy to recover more than 90 percent of stadium waste.

In June 2017, U.S. Bank Stadium established its own waste management strategy managed to divert 55 percent of the stadium’s waste by January 2018.

The new initiative will attempt to increase that rate to 90 percent during the game day through maximisation of recycling and composting. To this end, the stadium will accommodate a tri-bin waste collection system, a tailored organics compactor, and will process all the collected waste through an advanced post-game waste sort.

Throughout the game day, Rush2Recycle staff will be on site to encourage fans to recycle all their cans and bottles and compost food waste.

Roger Goodell, Commissioner of the NFL, said: “The NFL is a responsible steward of the environment in all areas of our business”.

“For 25 years, the NFL has strived to reduce the environmental impact of its events and leave a positive green legacy in host communities. Through this project, the League and its partners hope to set a new standard of environmental sustainability at the Super Bowl2”, he added.

NFL has also launched a social media campaign in an effort to spread the message and promote behavioural change during the event. Through this online campaign, the NFL attempts to create a more interactive communication channel even with the millions of fans worldwide who will not be physically attending the event.  

Former American football player Hines Ward has joined the campaign spreading the message. “This year you’ve got to bin it to win it!”, he says to the fans in an entertaining video.

NFL has embarked on a journey to become the leader in sports event sustainability since 1994, when it launched the first stadium solid waste recycling programme in the United States.

Through the NFL Environmental Programme, solid waste from the Super Bowl event is being recycled as much as possible and leftover décor and construction materials are donated to local organisations for re-use and re-purposing. 

Super Bowl LII will take place on Sunday 4 February.