Indians continue green initiatives

CLEVELAND -- The Indians have been going green for years, but Earth Day on Tuesday gave the club another chance to do its part in helping the environment.

The Tribe planned on giving 5,000 flower seed packets to fans to help celebrate the annual event and invited Craig Butler, the director of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, to throw out the ceremonial first pitch for Tuesday's game against the Royals.

"Ohio EPA is proud to bring awareness about the importance of recycling on Earth Day with the Cleveland Indians," Butler said in a news release. "We are asking fans to support recycling on Earth Day and every day because it saves energy and valuable landfill space, conserves our natural resources and creates jobs."

The Ohio EPA has partnered with the Indians and provided a grant to help with recycling at the stadium. This season, there are more than 60 new recycling cans throughout Progressive Field to aid that process. The Indians have run their "Our Tribe is Green" campaign for several years and the Ohio EPA plans on doing its part to expand the team's efforts.

According to the Indians, the organization recycled more than 30 percent of its waste in 2013 and recycled nearly 600,000 pounds of materials last year. The Indians also donated roughly 9,500 meals to the Cleveland Food Bank and recycled nearly 12 tons of fryer oiler used to make bio-diesel fuel.

Cleveland has reduced trash hauls to the landfill by 60 percent since 2007, has recycled more than two million pounds of material since '08 and has composted around 90 tons of organic material since '10.