Major League Baseball Teams Up With the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers to Take Recycling to the World Series
Posted October 27, 2011 in Living Sustainably, The Media and the Environment
The 2011 World Series may go down as one of the best in history thanks to the awesome slug-fest between big-name batters on both sides, Colby Lewis’ hot postseason pitching, or the fact that there’s nothing more exciting than the prospect of a seven-game Series.
Then again, did you know that the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers are also two of the many professional sports teams doing inspiring environmental work on and off the field this year?
During the first four games of the 2011 World Series, Major League Baseball worked with the Cardinals and Rangers to coordinate over 225 Green Team volunteers throughout their ballparks to help reduce the environmental footprint of the World Series games. During and after the games, the Green Teams collected recyclables and encouraged environmental awareness, with support from MLB staff, in Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri and Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas.
MLB Green Team volunteers collect recyclables during the 2011 World Series games in Arlington, Texas. ©MLB Photos/Darrell Byers Read more about the 2011 MLB postseason environmental commitments.
Whether they came from local high schools, Boy Scouts troops, youth baseball teams, or companies with corporate environmental initiatives, the mixed groups of volunteers were all devoted to two things: baseball and helping the environment. In the case of Busch Stadium in St. Louis, some volunteers have been investing time all year to this great cause.
The Cardinals and Joe Abernathy, VP of Busch Stadium Operations, have managed a regular season Green Team, made up of 35-40 volunteers per game, throughout the year. The Cardinals have been committed to smarter waste management for years with more than 550 recycling bins placed throughout the ballpark, and Green Team volunteers collecting recyclables during every game. In 2009, their recycling rate increased to 19 percent and is still climbing.
Since Busch Stadium opened in 2006, NRDC has been working with the Cardinals on a variety of environmental initiatives, from waste management to energy and water conservation. Noteworthy Cardinals greening initiatives include:
- Improved operating systems, lighting controls, occupancy sensors, and CFL retrofits, that have reduced the energy use at Busch Stadium by nearly 24 percent since 2006. Their annual energy cost has been reduced by 15.2 percent, saving just over $300,000 each year.
- All restrooms at Busch Stadium use 100 percent postconsumer content bathroom tissue.
- Low-flow flush toilets and faucet fixtures were installed during the construction of Busch Stadium, saving thousands of gallons of water annually.
Cardinals Green Team volunteers collect recyclables during the 2011 World Series games in St. Louis, Missouri. ©MLB Photos/ Tim Parker Read more about the 2011 MLB postseason environmental commitments.
Similar environmental efforts took place at the 2009 MLB All-Star Game in St. Louis. During All Star Week, the Cardinals, along with Green Team volunteers, recycled 20 tons of plastic, cardboard and aluminum, diverting 25 percent of waste from landfills. Green-e certified renewable energy from wind farms powered the six days of events, avoiding the emission of 287 metric tons of CO2. Once again, the red carpet was made from 100 percent recycled content, and produced with renewable energy. After its use, the carpet was returned to the vendor to be recycled.
The Rangers have also increased the breadth and duration of their in-park recycling efforts during the 2011 World Series by working with the MLB to engage a larger Green Team to comb the stands for paper, plastic, aluminum and cardboard recyclables.
MLB Green Team volunteers collect recyclables during the 2011 World Series games in Arlington, Texas. ©MLB Photos/Darrell Byers
At their ballpark, the Rangers are implementing a variety of environmental initiatives as well, including:
- Reducing scoreboard brightness, A/C operations, and common and service area lighting durations to improve the energy efficiency of the ballpark.
- Providing 100 soda bottle-shaped recycling receptacles, each five feet high, throughout the concourse area to increase recycling.
- Donating unused food to local food banks.
- Using less-toxic cleaning solvents for cleaning concourse areas and using organic, slow release fertilizers.
With only one, maybe two, nail-biting games left in the 2011 World Series make sure the cans are chilled, the snacks are ready, jump, cheer, scream, celebrate; then do as the pro teams do, and recycle.
