Creating a sustainable and successful stadium recycling program requires a strong commitment from the venue management, recycling program planner and the local government.

Fall is finally here, and with it come cool nights, colorful leaves and a flurry of recycling activity at football stadiums. Unfortunately, many of these venue-recycling programs will prove unsustainable. For most of the country (except, perhaps, California), the model being put forth for stadium recycling simply is not sustainable in the long term.

Plans I have seen for stadium recycling this year exhibit two characteristics, in particular, that work against success and sustainability. First, outside organizations are expected to implement stadium recycling programs in a separate materials handling system that does not change the existing operating procedures at the stadium. Second, stadium recycling programs prominently feature a charity element and rely heavily on volunteers. This implies that neither the stadium management nor the local government agencies involved in these programs trust that recycling is a sufficiently economically robust activity to incorporate into day-to-day stadium operations in the same way garbage collection and stadium clean-up services are incorporated.

By economically robust, I do not suggest that recycling would become a money-making venture for the team. In fact, operating costs will be incurred, but they are not nearly as monstrous as most stadium managers imagine. And as long as recycling is keep at arms-length, no one will be able to find out what the long-term costs might be and how to minimize them.

The trouble with charity
The charity elements and reliance on volunteers are difficult to criticize, since such activities have built-in virtue and even embody the ghost of recycling past. However, tying recycling to social good can be a distraction. Our mission is to develop an economy that relies less on virgin materials and more on recovered materials, and accomplishing this is hard enough without also taking on the burdens of curing cancer and improving childhood literacy.

But the issue with charity tie-ins boils down to revenue. The committees planning these recycling programs almost automatically announce that recycling revenues will be donated to the team's favorite charity before anyone has even thought about the logistics of what is actually going to happen and how this revenue might be generated. In all the stadium recycling programs I have worked on, some of which have succeeded while others failed, there has never been sufficient revenue to donate to a charity.

None of the program planners I have spoken with this year know how much revenue to expect. The bottom line is, recycling revenue charity donations are just another way that stadium managers can keep recycling at arms-length and look good at the same time.

Desperately seeking sponsors
Without a real source of material revenue, program planners must seek out sponsors to provide the charity donation in the name of recycling. Often these sponsors help cover the costs of the program as well. Beverage companies or local companies with team connections are sought out, and are usually willing to come up with some money in return for some good press.

A football season, with maybe 9 or 10 home games at the most, is not a big drain on finances for the sponsors. With as many as 90 home games per season, and series that schedule multiple games back-to-back, baseball, however, can be a different story. Sponsors also lost interest from year to year. Personnel changes and shifts in charity giving allotments or priorities mean that recycling program planners must often re-invent the wheel every year. This is not the hallmark of a sustainable system.

Volunteers, in partnership with hard-working local government recycling coordinators, are often relied upon to perform collection and material handling chores. Volunteers can usually be motivated by rewarding them with game passes, so they can work before and after while enjoying the game in the meantime. Paradoxically, however, the better the team performs over the course of the season, the more difficult passes are to obtain, and, in crowded stadiums, seats for volunteers are usually not available. The lack of seating, plus the hard work of hauling around heavy bags of dripping beverage containers collected from tailgaters and recycling bins can discourage even the most ardent volunteers.

A recipe for success
Despite this gloomy prognosis, stadium recycling can be successful and sustainable if some key principles are followed: - Recycling programs must reflect a full understanding of the collection and disposal costs of recycles as trash
- Planners must have access to complete sales data from the stadium to accurately predict recyclable volumes and tonnages.
- Program planners must have the ability to track and record recovery numbers accurately
- Programs should maximize material recovery with the least disruption to the status quo, and do this by integrating the new program into the existing solid waste management system.
- Programs must be designed to be cost-effective, low-maintenance and replicable

The specific bells and whistles of the recycling program can be implemented as planners see fit, as long as effort has been made to structure the program along the above guidelines. Negotiating these provisions is not easy. This is where stadium recycling is less about feeling good and giving back to the community, and more about difficult negotiations with groups of people who probably have never spoken with each other before, who do not have a clue about recycling and who may be hostile to the whole idea. This is the reality of stadium recycling, and many program planners do not want to hear it.

Stadium recycling is challenging, difficult, intense and incredibly rewarding once a solid program is established and accepted by stadium and team managers. Dealing with these cultural icons can be intimidating, as they are mostly accustomed to getting their way, but recycling coordinators should establish firm plans, based on workable principles, and keep trying until they succeed.

This article appeared in WasteCap Wisconsin's November Email Bulletin

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