PNC Park adds recycling, composting collection bins

PNC Park and the Pittsburgh Pirates have chosen GreenDrop Recycling Stations to collect recyclables and compostable material at the baseball park. The addition supports the Pittsburgh Pirates’ “Let’s Go Bucs. Let’s Go Green.” campaign, an environmental sustainability program the ballpark established in 2008 that includes all daily operations.

Park officials say GreenDrop Stations reduce landfill contributions by showing event attendees how to easily self-sort recyclable and compostable items. The Pirates say they are reducing their environmental footprint while minimizing staffing expenses and being fiscally responsible through sustainable operations.

“The goal of the ‘Let’s Go Bucs. Let’s Go Green.’ program is to focus on landfill diversion, resource conservation and educating PNC Park visitors,” says Sissy Burkhart, manager of cleaning operations at PNC Park. “Before this program, there were no set diversion practices so almost all of our waste went to landfills. Today, we are seeing the rewards of our sustainability efforts in supporting our community and involving fans in the process.”

Since the launch of “Let’s Go Bucs. Let’s Go Green.” campaign, the Pirates and PNC Park say they have recycled more than 6 million pounds of material for a diversion rate of approximately 75 percent. PNC Park has recycled 78 million plastic bottles, collected 644 tons of compostable materials in the 2014 season and used environmentally friendly paper, including toilet paper that is made of 100-percent-recycled materials.

To further increase sustainability efforts at PNC Park, the Pittsburgh Pirates have chosen to add GreenDrop Recycling Stations to the executive offices. GreenDrop Stations have worked in other venues of the Green Sports Alliance of which the Pirates are an active member.

“Using a composting waste stream option can remove tons of organic material normally going to landfills. That will help slow down the production of methane, a hazardous contributor to greenhouse gas, from entering our atmosphere,” adds Burkhart.

The GreenDrop Recycling Station, based in Vancouver, Washington, was designed in cooperation with the management of the Portland Trail Blazers basketball team and the Moda Center arena (formerly known as the Rose Garden), where the Trail Blazers play. The arena’s landfill diversion rate increased from 38 percent in 2007 to more than 90 percent in 2012, in part by replacing old-style garbage cans with GreenDrop Recycling Stations. GreenDrop stations visually showing users how to properly dispose of recyclable and compostable items into separate container slots.

Lyle Peters, director of sales for the GreenDrop Stations, says, “The Pirates and PNC Park have been on the forefront of sustainability and environmental education for the past 17 years. This has been an exciting project for our Pacific Cascade team. We helped with their custom instructional labels depicting specific items to sort and also promote the 'Let’s Go Bucs. Let’s Go Green.' campaign. Detailed sorting labels guide guests to quickly and accurately dispose of waste within specific waste streams at one orderly stop, keeping facility expenses at a minimum.”