A pair of ballparks in which Delaware North Sportservice operates have been lauded recently for their environmental efforts.
Progressive Field, where Delaware North operates food and beverage services for Major League Baseball’s Cleveland Indians, was praised in the New York Times in a May 1 piece titled “Cleveland Indians Have Home-Field Advantage on Recycling,” which can be read by clicking here.
In partnership with the Indians, Delaware North’s team at Progressive Field collects pre-consumer food
waste – including skin, fat, flesh and bone – from the kitchens and then grinds it into a mixture that is later trucked to a wastewater treatment facility, where the ground-up food waste is transformed (anaerobically digested) into energy and fertilizer.
Meanwhile, at Target Field – where Delaware North operates food, beverage and retail services for Major League Baseball’s Minnesota Twins – while plastic bottles and aluminum will still be recycled, all other concessions products will be composted. That includes beer, soda and coffee cups, plates, trays, lids, straws and utensils – all because these containers and utensils are now made of a compostable corn resin. In other words: Fans can throw any leftover food – as well as the containers in which it was served – into the same compostable container.
“There is very little actual trash anymore,” said Delaware North’s onsite environmental management representative, Anna Isler. “By converting to compostable containers and utensils, we anticipate that our landfill diversion rate will be in the vicinity of 85 percent.”
“These examples illustrate how stadiums across the board are increasingly eliminating trash to landfill and that there is no one way to do it,” said Anne Marie McManus, director of environmental affairs for Delaware North. “Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Every site requires availability of technology or service providers, as well as seamless partnering between Delaware North, our clients and our food and beverage partners on everything from purchasing decisions, kitchen operations, and trash and recycling receptacles. But the more sites that make these transitions, the sooner no trash containers will be the norm!”
