Super Bowl 54, this year played in Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium, will see the Kansas City Chiefs face off against the San Francisco 49ers. Nearly 100 million people watch the Super Bowl every year, in bars, at house parties, and for a lucky few, in the stadium, where tickets start at $4,000. The game is a time to indulge in food, alcohol, and entertainment, but can the game fuel a conservation message too?
This year’s game, like last year’s and the year before, aims to divert trash away from a landfill. Different organizations define zero waste differently, from completely eliminating waste to keeping all waste out of landfills through recycling, composting, and source reduction. Some organizations, like this year’s Super Bowl, adopt these strategies and burn excess trash for energy, a concept called “zero waste to landfill.”
As businesses and municipalities grapple with the plastic pollution scientists say is causing a global crisis, sporting events are rapidly implementing new initiatives that reduce their trash, and stadiums are becoming helpful testing grounds. If zero-waste initiatives were structured like governments, stadiums would be dictatorships, where one entity mandates what vendors can sell, how they package it, and what happens to items when they’re tossed out.
The game’s organizers say the average NFL game generates 80,000 pounds of trash. That can double during the Super Bowl. If everything goes according to plan this Sunday, all of that waste will go to a recycling center, compost facility, or a plant where it will be burned for energy.
To read the full story, visit https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/01/super-bowl-54-zero-waste-miami/#close.
Author: Sarah Gibbens, National Geographic
Photo: David J. Philip, AP Images