How Green was this year's Super Bowl?
This year, one of the country's largest waste generating events went “green.” The people behind Super Bowl XLVI are continuing to work on some impressive initiatives to reduce their environmental impact and help the community, according to an NFL press release.
“The NFL Environmental Program, now in its 18th year, develops projects each year to address solid waste, food waste, material reuse, the needs for books and sports equipment for children in need and the overall climate change impact of Super Bowl events,” the press release states.
This year, some of those initiatives included:
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15,000 megawatt-hours of renewable energy certificates, supplied by Green Mountain Energy, avoiding the release of over 14,000 tons of greenhouse gases
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A recycling initiative from PepsiCo, including bins throughout the event and trees planted locally to support forestry projects
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Tens of thousands of pounds of food collected from the event with the help of Second Helpings, a food recovery organization
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Donating a range of solar power materials to residential areas in conjunction with the non profit organization Rebuilding Together to assist low-income home renovation projects in the area
Further engaging its fans, the NFL also organized the 1st & Green Environmental Challenge, in which participants track carbon and water savings through a website to compete for recognition on stage at the Super Bowl village. That program has saved an upwards of 1.4 million pounds of carbon and over 2.5 million gallons of water thus far.
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TreeHugger's Tom Szaky wrote, "I couldn't help thinking to myself that this is something the NFL probably isn’t doing to gain new viewers. I suspect they’re doing it out of a larger sense of corporate responsibility."
Green Mountain supplied the infographic below:
