SEATTLE —
Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena is being recognized for its waste diversion. Just three years after opening, the venue has eliminated all single-use plastic, so all food products and packaging bought at the venue are either recyclable or compostable.
The arena has achieved the highest waste diversion rate of any sports venue in the world by earning TRUE (Total Resource Use and Efficiency) Platinum Certification.
Brianna Treat, director of sustainability for Climate Pledge Arena and the Seattle Kraken, has helped get the arena to this point.
“It's been really awesome to see the arena go from a pretty low diversion rate of around 29% on opening day, climbing all the way up to our highest last June,” Treat said, adding that the arena has increased diversion to 93%.
Treat explained that each time an event is held at Climate Pledge, the estimated 18,000 fans create 8 to 10 tons of garbage.
But with this new system of only compostable and recyclable materials, that trash doesn't end up in a landfill. In fact, there are just three dumpsters for holding landfill garbage for the entire venue.
Treat said it’s taken time to get to this point, and they relied heavily on their suppliers to provide packaging that fits their zero waste needs.
“If you simplify your procurement and you eliminate all single-use plastics, you’re going to see that immediately on the back end when you’re sorting,” Treat said.
Treat said they’ve worked with their food and beverage partner, Delaware North, to find zero-waste items. Pepsi switched from plastic containers to aluminum, so all drinks are now in aluminum bottles.
Treat said one of the food obstacles was finding zero-waste chip and candy packaging. When Climate Pledge could not find a supplier, they diverted and decided to make and package the products in-house.
“So we took matters into our own hands and said well if we can’t have compostable chip bags or candy wrappers from a supplier, what if we innovated in-house and made our own chips in-house and then co-packed them with a compostable packing, and that’s exactly what we did,” Treat said.
The goal is to make it easy for visitors to sort their trash into the proper waste bin at the venue, but their housekeeping staff rip open every bag and sort it a second time to ensure it’s all going to the right place.
Treat said it’s been exciting to watch this evolution happen.
“So we really see this opportunity in sharing all of our zero waste operations, our celebrations as a way to really wake up sports and entertainment to the fact that climate and sport is intrinsically connected,” Treat said.