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Greening Sports through Sustainable Materials Management

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What are Green Sports?

For more information about how you can green your sport, visit Green Sports

Across the country, teams, fans, event planners and college campuses are saving energy, cutting waste and cleaning up at sporting events to show their commitment to the environment. These activities not only reduce the strain on environmental resources, but have significant economic benefits.

Businesses can benefit directly by embracing greener practices and reducing waste:

  • Social and environmental responsibility
  • Reduce operating costs
  • Decrease waste and disposal costs
  • Create and expand markets for green products and services
  • Improve employee safety using greener products

For more information on the benefits to businesses please check out Why Green Your Sport?

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How do Green Sports relate to Sustainable Materials Management?

Athletic stadiums and sports arenas are some of the largest consumers of materials, energy, and water. The unique infrastructure surrounding these venues present a valuable opportunity to help teams and fans adopt more sustainable practices.

  • By implementing changes to lighting and air conditioning patterns, facilities can decrease their energy consumption and cost.
  • Sustainable management of food production and donation decreases wasted food and can help the local community.
  • Recovery via recycling and reuse of the many materials used during games decreases landfilling and can provide valuable materials for future products.
  • Even the construction materials themselves can be from recycled sources.

Each of these activities decrease the environmental impact of sporting events by consuming fewer natural resources while making the most of materials already in use, all with cost savings to the teams.

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