How Climate Pledge Arena is achieving its zero waste goals

Single major sporting event Can generate up to 40 tons of waste. This is the weight Two chartered buses full of passengers Sent to landfill—and that doesn’t even take into account the energy used to power the stadium, or the gasoline consumed by the many fans who drove to get here.

that’s why Seattle Climate Pledge Arena — The first large-scale live event space Named after a cause, not a company — is leading the way in green alternatives with a range of initiatives in areas such as energy, waste, transportation, and more. In fact, the Climate Pledge Arena and its resident teams, the Seattle Kraken and the Seattle Storm, are among the signatories. Climate Commitmentis a coalition of companies committed to an ambitious goal: to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2040. This September marks the fifth anniversary of the pledge, which was established by Amazon and Global Optimism As of 2019, more than 500 companies have signed the agreement.

As the movement to combat climate change grows and attention is focused on the need for large-scale cross-industry collaboration, signatories from the entertainment and sports industries are coming together to combat their impact on the environment. For Climate Pledge Arena, this means designing innovative solutions to make the future of live events more sustainable.

Oakview GroupOak View Group, which operates the Climate Pledge Arena and 400 other venues around the world, is also a signatory to the pledge. The arena’s green achievements also have a wider impact: helping to inspire other signatories and venues around the world, said Kristen Fulmer, Oak View Group’s head of sustainability. Fulmer also serves as director of GOAL (Green Operations & Advanced Leadership), Oak View Group’s sustainability working group that brings together leaders from 40 venues in the U.S., U.K. and Canada.

“Sustainability is not just in the (new) venues,” Fulmer said. “We are pushing goals and minimum standards to all venue operations teams and providing them with support and resources to ensure they understand the sustainability of the Iowa Events Center and Climate Pledge Arena.”

Inspiring live event spaces around the world to adopt sustainable practices could have a huge impact. The global sports industry emits approximately 350 million tons of carbon dioxideThat number includes factors like transportation emissions, venue construction and commodity supply chains, according to the Carbon Literacy Project. Meanwhile, concert goers in the U.S. alone generate more than 116 million pounds of trash..

The Climate Pledge Arena’s success story showcases some tangible actions that signatories of the pledge can take, starting with energy. Everything in the arena, from the heaters that keep spectators warm to the machines that resurface the ice hockey court, is powered by electricity. Currently, 1% of that electricity is provided by on-site solar panels, with the rest coming from other renewable sources, according to Rob Johnson, senior vice president of sustainability and transportation for the Climate Pledge Arena and the Seattle Kraken.

Siemens is a signatory to The Climate Pledge and has been helping 18,100-seat stadium“It starts with tracking and sub-metering to understand exactly where the building energy system is using the most electricity and what we can actually do to reduce those emissions,” Johnson said.

Environmental sustainability initiatives go beyond traditional “green” building operations. Each ticket provides free local public transport Fans are encouraged to choose light rail or bus transportation instead of driving to the event. Ice used to make ice hockey rinksJohnson said the program has saved more than 400,000 gallons of water over the past three seasons. The food program prioritizes local sourcing, with a goal of sourcing 75 percent of its ingredients within a 300-mile radius of the arena.

Additionally, its 22,000-ton roof (built for the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair and designated an official historic landmark) was preserved while the new arena was built beneath itJohnson said this significantly reduced construction-related carbon emissions by 41,000 metric tons.

Johnson said the arena’s approach has inspired groups around the world — from Eastern European hockey clubs to Japanese arena developers — who frequently request more information about their plans. “It’s been encouraging to see so many venues … asking us to visit or calling to ask how we’re doing this,” he said.

One of the most talked-about recent achievements of the Climate Pledge Arena is True Platinum Certification Operates as a functionally zero-waste facility. To achieve this goal, the venue diverts more than 90% of waste from landfill to recycling and composting.

Brianna Treat, director of sustainability for the arena and the Seattle Kraken, said reaching the zero-waste goal required a three-pronged approach. The first step was to simplify purchasing, including changing the products sold. Only products with compostable foods and recyclable packaging are now purchased. Single-use plastics have also been eliminated. The arena achieved this milestone in October 2023, well ahead of its 2024 goal.

Finally, the team overhauled the “bowl sweep” method by which cleaning crews collect trash after events. Instead of having cleaners gather everything into one bag and then separate it into separate bags for landfill, recycling, and composting, cleaning crews sort the bowl sweeps as they go. “We’ve saved a ton of time, and in fact, we’ve gone from 10 cleaners to four to six per event because of how simple we do it,” Treat says. “Bowl sweeps are huge for us because it saves us money on the backend side, and it saves us a ton of time sorting. It takes 10 hours to sort 10 tons of trash.”

Then, there’s fan education. For example, signs at each trash disposal station identify the 30 most popular items in the stadium and indicate where each item should be thrown away, eliminating the guesswork. The team even has a camera strapped to a soda bottle that shows where it’s thrown away.

Climate Pledge Arena’s zero waste performance far exceeds the average landfill diversion rates of GOAL Network members (90% and 100%, respectively). 32%). But for Fulmer, it’s more important to appreciate the overall progress. “That means more than a third of waste is not going to landfill or incineration,” she said. “If we add up the number of events that are held at these venues and the entire portfolio of venues, the numbers are quite significant. Even just small, incremental changes can really help reduce a lot of waste.”