Columbus sports teams team up for recycling success

For the first month of the 2009-2010 season, The Blue Jackets (National Hockey League) and Nationwide Arena, located in Columbus, Ohio, recycled over 64 tons. During the entire 2008 hockey season, the Jackets recycling numbers totaled 346 tons. Arena director of operations Scott Lofton sees a growing impact. “Thanks to our collaborative efforts with the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio (SWACO) to improve solid waste and recycling volumes at Nationwide Arena, we salvage more than 46 tons of baled corrugated, mixed recyclables and scrap steel each month. Over the course of a year, we are able to divert nearly 15 percent of our total waste away from landfills.”

The inaugural season for Huntington Park has been a very green one for The Columbus Clippers. General manager Ken Schnacke reports 97 tons recycled. That includes 13 tons of grass clippings that are now composted. “The Columbus Clippers and Huntington Park are proud to have contributed as much to the recycling efforts of SWACO as we did this first year at our new ballpark. SWACO was a great influence on our recycling efforts and their assistance and expertise helped us to maximize our recycling programs.“

At Crew Stadium, recycling by fans and staff also scored well. For the 2009 season just a little over 19 tons of recyclables were collected.

SWACO branded recycling containers are available for use by fans at Nationwide Arena, Huntington Park, and Crew Stadium. SWACO also provides recycling advice to the teams as well.