Venues and Events: Reducing Waste

Case Studies

Case studies of the experiences of others are a great resource for generating ideas for what might work for you, dealing with challenges, and demonstrating that waste diversion programs can be successful.

• Airports
• Conventions/Conferences
• Fairs
• Festivals
• Stadiums
• Miscellaneous

Airports

• New Terminal/Concourse Recycling Program (Adobe PDF, 466 KB)*
  In April 2007, the Sacramento International Airport initiated a program to collect newspapers, magazines, white and colored paper, cardboard, aluminum cans, glass, and plastic bottles.

*If you require special accommodation to access this document pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act, please contact the Office of Public Affairs at (916) 341-6300 or opa@ciwmb.ca.gov.

Conventions/Conferences

• 2004 Democratic National Convention. Convention organizers saved $9,358 through planned deconstruction and recycling (Adobe PDF) of event stages and booth materials. Both Republican and Democratic (Adobe PDF) conventions also took other waste reduction actions.
• Greenbuild International Conference and Expo. The managers of this event have written detailed case studies on how they significantly reduced solid waste generation at their conferences: 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 (Adobe PDF).
• Moscone Center, San Francisco, California (1996-2001). One of the busiest convention centers in the country cut their waste disposal tonnage in half. Winner of the Governor's Environmental and Economic Leadership Award.

Fairs

• Del Mar Fairgrounds (2005). The 375-acre facility in San Diego County, California hosts more than 3 million visitors annually to a year-round schedule of activities including a county fair, theme shows, and a horse racing season.
• Minnesota State Fair. This event hosts almost 1.7 million visitors annually from around the mid west. Used plastic cups make up the majority of their waste. The Fair has addressed this problem with a polystyrene cup recycling program that has become very successful. After seven years of experience, they have some recommendations for others who are interested in starting such a program.

Festivals

• Indio International Tamale Festival (PDF, 13 MB). This waste neutral diverted waste from landfills, decreased the generation of greenhouse gases, and increased its environmental sustainability through recycling and composting.
• German Fest in Wisconsin. This festival reduces waste through the sale of a reusable novelty boot-shaped cup.
• Milwaukee Irish Fest. Going green takes on a whole new meaning at this event. This popular fest has promoted waste reduction, recycling and other environmental conservation message with "Greenwish Village." In 1997, the Be Smart Coalition, Keep Greater Milwaukee Beautiful, Inc., and Milwaukee Irish Fest teamed up to pilot a festival waste reduction project with four components: education, cup reuse, cup recycling, and vendor information.
• RiverSplash. A three-day celebration of music, food, on-the-river events, activities and children's entertainment that draws a crowd of 150,000 to 175,000 people to Milwaukee's downtown river and river walk system. The event's 10th anniversary featured a comprehensive waste reduction, reuse, and recycling program aimed at reducing the amount of beverage containers and food wrappings thrown away at the event.
• St. Aloysius Church Festival. An annual neighborhood event in West Allis, Wisconsin which attracts more than 15,000 attendees. Features include a wide variety of food, rides, games, musical entertainment, family dinners and home-made goods. St. Aloysius is the first festival of its kind in the area to participate in a pilot program offering reusable souvenir cups and discounted refills for beer.
• San Francisco Bay to Breakers Footrace and Festival (1999). More than 75,000 participants run a 12k course through the city streets and end at postrace festival held in a municipal stadium.

Stadiums

• Indian Wells Tennis Center. A six-minute video showing the process for collecting kitchen waste generated at a major tennis tournament for use as compost.
• San Francisco Giants. This baseball team saved more than $100,000 on their garbage disposal in 2004 by implementing a recycling and composting program at SBC Park.
• A soccer association in Munich, Germany included a waste reduction element in their plans for a new 66,000 seat stadium opened in 2005. The City of Munich also pioneered a deposit system for washable dishes and mugs at its famed Oktoberfest.

Miscellaneous

• Reuben H. Fleet Science Center at Balboa Park ,Staff at this year round Science Center have taken many initiatives to implement recycling at the facility. Other environmentally friendly steps have also been taken to reduce water and energy consumption.
• Work of Art, Event Planning and Catering Waste Reduction Program (2000). This innovative caterer has successfully implemented a "zero-waste events" program while maintaining the highest standards for food and service quality in a very competitive market.
• National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR). A plastic bottle industry group, offers short examples of three successful beverage bottle collection and recycling programs at an arena, a stadium, and an airport in 2002 and 2003.
• Harley Davidson 100th Anniversary Events 2003 (Adobe PDF). The Executive Summary for this event summarizes how event organizers planned for waste diversion at nine different celebration sites, serving a total of more than a million event attendees. The complete final report and appendix are available from Harley Davidson by e-mailing Beverly.scheels@harley-davidson.com.

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