CenturyLink Field in Seattle earns EPAs WasteWise award for reducing waste, saving resources

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is honoring CenturyLink Field in Seattle, Washington, for its sustainability accomplishments and green sports leadership. CenturyLink Field, home to the Seattle Seahawks and Seattle Sounders FC,  earned  national recognition for its programs to reduce waste, divert material from landfills, and recover organic resource value through composting. CenturyLink Field is among 16 WasteWise national award winners, who collectively prevented and recycled over 355,801 tons of waste, saving $17.7 million in avoided landfill fees.

CenturyLink Field’s award-winning results in reducing waste, including their wider effort to make their facility a sustainability leader, include:

Waste:

97% waste diversion rate in 2016 and more than 95% each of the last four years.
All food service products and vessels are compostable.
Transitioned to paper-based, ocean degradable straws in 2017.
Utilities:

25% of the stadium’s energy consumption generated by on-site solar.
24% energy reduction by installing LEDs and automating lighting.
Use 1.3 million gallons less water per year by installing low-flow fixtures.
Food:

First stadium to be Smart Catch certified, 95% of seafood served by FGH is certified as sustainably harvested.
Pork, chicken and beef is sourced from local farms and ranches practicing humane and sustainable farming.
Partnered with Cedar Grove Compost and Sound Sustainable Farms to direct compost from CenturyLink Field to grow organic vegetables that is used at the stadium.
For 23 years, EPA’s WasteWise has helped organizations and businesses apply sustainable materials management practices to prevent and reduce municipal and select industrial wastes, saving them resources and money. WasteWise partners reported preventing and diverting 8.5 million tons of waste that would otherwise have been disposed in landfills or incinerators. These actions—which include waste prevention, recycling, composting and donation—saved participants over $400 million in avoided landfill fees.