LA Coliseum achieves zero waste status

The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum has achieved “zero waste” status, transforming rubbish bins into compost and recycling points. 

The industry standard states that zero waste venues must divert at least 90 per cent of their total waste from landfill through recycling and composting.

The 90,000-seat Coliseum – home to college football Trojans and the NFL Rams – is the largest NFL stadium and second-largest college stadium to achieve the sustainability goal of zero waste.

The Coliseum hosted the 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympics and will play a key role if Los Angeles is selected to host the 2024 Games.

Lynn Swann, Athletic Director at the University of Southern California (USC), said: “We’re proud to be a part of a program such as the Zero Waste Initiative at the Coliseum. This is an opportunity for USC Athletics and our fans to lead the way in terms of taking ownership of our environmental impact on game days…Our university, fans and alumni should be proud of the success of this program.”

Molly Higgins, the Ram’s Vice President of Community Affairs and Engagement, said: “A large part of making our communities a better place includes making as little an impact on the environment as possible…We are pleased to work with USC, the Coliseum and our fans to make Rams games zero waste, which is good for all of Los Angeles now and into the future.”

Due to a combined effort between thousands of fans and staff sorting waste and Athens Services (the Coliseum’s recycling partner), the zero waste program diverted over 400,000 pounds of waste over the season.

Halli Bovia, Manager of the USC Sustainability Program, said: “The progress that this program has made is an outstanding achievement and reflects the strong collaboration between all partners involved.”

In collaboration with the USC Office of Sustainability, the Coliseum introduced the zero waste initiative before the 2015 USC Trojans college football season.

USC has also been a member of the Green Sports Alliance since 2013, a non-profit dedicated to helping sports leagues, teams, venues, partners and fans adopt healthy, sustainable practices.

BASF and EcoSafe added their waste management expertise as partners of the Coliseum’s zero waste programme.

Joe Furin the Coliseum’s General Manager, said: “The success of this program is another huge accomplishment for the Coliseum and its program sponsors who played a part in making this possible.”

Hear more on this topic at Sustainable Innovation in Sport – a two day meeting bringing together stakeholders and influencers who are engendering positive environmental impacts through sport, on the 22-23 February 2017.  For more information and to register, visit the website by clicking here.