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Baseball Hits Home Run on Waste Reduction

Photo of model of planned New York Mets' Citi Field
The New York Mets’ new Citi Field, expected to open in 2009, will include numerous green features including recycled steel and reclaimed coal combustion products.

Major League Baseball (MLB) is going, going, going green. More than 10 teams have launched green initiatives or plan to soon, whether by starting recycling programs, composting food waste, or building a new stadium using recycled material.

MLB baseball games bring together tens of thousands of fans in communities across the country together. However, in the process the stadiums also consume vast amounts of resources and generate significant amounts of waste.

Stadium operators have found that by cutting waste wherever possible, they can improve their environmental reputation, reduce their stadium's impact on the environment, and cut costs. For example, San Francisco's AT&T Park saved $100,000 in garbage disposal fees in one year alone through its recycling program.

On Earth Day (April 22) 2008, the Boston Red Sox received an EPA Environmental Merit Award for their efforts to green the "green monster" and the rest of Fenway Park. With help from the Natural Resources Defense Council, the team is setting ambitious goals, such as recycling most plastic drink containers used in the park and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent.

Local college students make up Fenway's "Green Teams" that roam the stands to collect fans' plastic cups and bottles. The Red Sox themselves recorded announcements to be played over Fenway's public address and video screens, encouraging fans to care for the environment by recycling at the ball park and at home.

Further, the Red Sox have committed to transform the 96-year-old Fenway into a modern, green, environmentally friendly place. This includes installing solar panels on the Green Monster to help heat hot water and installing energy-efficient LED lighting displays.

New MLB stadiums are also being built with the environment in mind. The new Washington Nationals Park will be the first MLB stadium to be certified as green by the US Green Building Council Exit EPA. The park features a 6,300-square-foot green roof covered with plants to help absorb rainwater and reduce runoff to the nearby Anacostia River and 95 percent of the steel used to build the park was recycled. The stadium also boasts 100 recycling bins for fans.

The New York Mets' soon-to-be built stadium, Citi Field, will also include the latest green technologies and practices. About 95 percent of the 12,500 tons of structural steel to be used in the stadium will be recycled, and the stadium is expected to use two million pounds of recycled coal combustin products. Once Citi Field is fully operational, the Mets plan to join EPA's WasteWise program, audit garbage generation, and establish recycling goals.

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