The Philadelphia Eagles will soon have a new way to dispose of food waste with the installation of a food waste digester and data analytics platform at the team's Lincoln Financial Field. The team installed a waste digester at its practice facility in September, 2016, and since then it has decomposed - and thus diverted from landfill - more than 9 tons of food waste.
The team is partnering with Waste Masters Solutions, which will work with BioHiTech Global on developing, installing and deploying the digester and data analytics platform.
BioHiTech Global's Eco-Safe Digesters can process up to 2,400 pounds of material per day, using a proprietary bacteria formula to break food scraps down via aerobic digestion and send them through sewer systems with no residual solids. The Eagles say this will help manage large spikes in waste volume during important games or concerts, according to Waste Dive.
The organization recycles more than 850 tons of material each year and through its energy-from-waste program, virtually 100% of waste is diverted from landfills. The team implemented its Go Green program with the opening of Lincoln Financial Field in 2003. What started out with blue recycling bins under each employee's desk has evolved into a comprehensive environmental program that features the elements of green energy production, recycling and composting, energy and water conservation, reforestation and sustainability partnerships. The organization says it recycles more than 850 tons of material each year and through their energy-from-waste program, virtually 100% of waste is diverted from landfills.
With the enormous crowds that congregate at such venues, sports stadiums have ample opportunities to improve waste, energy, and water management. A new stadium in Washington, DC, for example, will provide storage for more than 55,000 cubic feet of stormwater onsite through green roofs, bioretention areas, and infiltration basins. Audi Field, which broke ground earlier this year, will be home to Major League Soccer team DC United. In addition to the stormwater retention system, the stadium will include an 884-kilowatt solar array installed on the stadium’s canopy and throughout the site along with a variety of smaller energy and water efficient technologies.
Levi’s Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers, made environmental history when it first opened in 2014. In addition to using recycled and reclaimed materials for construction, sporting a 27,000-square-foot green roof, and generating solar power, the $1.2 billion stadium has an elaborate system for stormwater management. Details about this novel system were recently made public.
Since rainwater can turn a football field into a muddy swamp, it can easily turn a parking lot into a floodplain, stormwater collection and treatment system company Oldcastle Building Solutions points out in their new case study of Levi’s Stadium. The stadium in Santa Clara, designed by HNTB, is 1.85 million square feet, has a capacity of 68,500 (not including club seats and luxury suites), and approximately 30,000 parking spots. All those hard surfaces can generate enormous stormwater runoff.
