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Seattle Mariners celebrate Earth Day with carbon neutral game

In honor of Earth Day the Seattle Mariners are staging a carbon neutral game through carbon offsets, renewable energy credits and water restoration certificates. Mariners sustainability partners including BASF, PlanLED, Seadrunar Recycling, Seattle City Light, Puget Sound Energy, ARAMARK, Centerplate and Seattle Public Utilities, will be recognized during a pregame ceremony.

Sustainability Offsets

The Mariners are working with Bonneville Environmental Foundation and Seattle City Light's Green Up program to offset the climate impacts of Wednesday's game between the Mariners and the Houston Astros. Impacts to be offset include:

  • Emissions associated with natural gas used to operate Safeco Field on April 22 (1,584 Therms)
  • 138,220 gallons of water (185 CCF)
  • Disposal or recycling of waste generated during the game (estimated to be 5.5 tons, 90%+ of which will be recycled)
  • 47,000 kilowatt hours of electricity
  • Air travel emissions for the Astros from Houston to Seattle and on to Oakland, as well as the air travel emissions for the umpire crew from San Francisco to Seattle and on to Milwaukee
  • Hotel-related emissions for the Astros and the umpires (50 hotel rooms)
  • Ground travel to and from the ballpark by staff and fans (180,000 car miles)

Sustainable Saturdays

Once again this season, the Mariners are partnering with BASF to present Sustainable Saturdays, a unique season-long environmental awareness program to call attention to various environmental issues and support the Mariners longstanding commitment to sustainability in all aspects of Club operations, including Safeco Field. During each Sustainable Saturday, fans learn about how the Mariners continue to make Safeco Field a sustainable ballpark, and how they can practice recycling and composting at home. Last season, the Mariners recycled and composted over 1,200 tons of food waste, yard waste, plastics, paper and other items that would have gone into landfills.

Zero Waste Stations

The 16 Zero Waste Stations and 500 compostable receptacles throughout Safeco Field make it possible for fans to sort their recyclable and compostable items from the waste stream. Composting is made clean, safe and easy with collection bags made from ecovio® - BASF's certified compostable and partially bio-based polymer. Already in use throughout kitchens and concessions at Safeco Field, compostable bags made of ecovio® are also available in a convenient counter-top size for residential food waste collection programs.

LED Lights

Safeco Field is the first MLB ballpark to illuminate the field with high performance, energy efficient LED lights. The fixtures use 60% fewer watts than old technology metal halide lights, which will result in a savings of more than $50,000 a year in energy costs alone. The LED lights also improve visibility for players as well as fans at the ballpark and watching on television.

Safeco Field Sustainability Fast Facts

  • The Mariners have increased the recycling rate for Safeco Field from 13% in 2006 to 85% in 2014.
  • Over 2.4 million pounds of recyclable materials, including paper, plastic, glass, aluminium, food waste, grass clippings and other organic matter was composted or recycled last season.
  • Mariners concessions partner Centerplate donated 6.9 tons of food to food banks and feeding programs in 2014. Almost 40 tons have been donated since the program began in 2011.
  • Through conservation, over $1.75 million in utilities costs has been saved since 2006.
    • Reduced annual natural gas use 40%.
    • Reduced annual electricity use 25%.
    • Reduced annual water/sewer use 25%.
  • Solar panels now provide over half the electricity used on an annual basis at the Mariners Spring Training complex in Peoria, Arizona.
  • The Mariners are founding members of the Green Sports Alliance, a groundbreaking coalition of professional sports teams and sporting venues committed to promoting "greening initiatives" in sports.
  • The Mariners two Recycling Superheroes, Captain Plastic and Kid Compost, encourage fans to reduce, reuse and recycle at Safeco Field and at home.
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