Sustainability in ACTION at the Georgia Dome

The Georgia Dome (Dome) - home to the Atlanta Falcons - is exploring avenues to refine their impressive recycling practices to new dimensions. As a Founding Zero Waste Zones (ZWZ) Participant, the Dome built a strong recycling foundation when the ZWZ launched in February 2009. The ZWA Blog article, Refining Recycling Practices at the GA Dome, gives an overview of the Dome's recycling history and future commitments.

Ei team @ Novelis recycling
dumpster in tail gate lots

In spring 2012, the Dome accepted the invitation to serve as the SFCI Event Pilot.  Along with the Georgia World Congress Center – fourth largest conference center in the nation – and 20-acre Olympic Centennial Park, the Georgia Dome is one of three facilities under the state-owned Georgia World Congress Center Authority. Tim Trefzer - GWCCA director of sustainability - oversees the impressive sustainability accomplishments, including zero waste and well beyond, for the three facilities.

The SFCI - Dome announces the following 2014 Falcons season goals:

1. Implement a post-consumer food waste collection program
2. Source-separate material generated for on-site produced mini-bales
3. Expand game day tailgate recycling initiatives in the GWCC-owned parking lots; explore recycling possibilities at privately held parking lots. 

Establishing baselines | fact finding for the business model development are the first action steps and timing is impeccable with the August pre-season Falcons home games. 

Nov 10 SFCI-dome team
"picking the bowl"

Fact finding for the post-consumer food waste collection program began on November 10, 2013 when the SFCI Team "picked the bowl" post-game for food waste and compostable items. The team collected approximately 130 pounds of compostable material in 13 bags, which were delivered to a permitted commercial composting facility by SFCI co-chair Doug Kunnemann of NatureWorks and Elemental Impact founder Holly Elmore. Great news: the material placed at the end of a windrow composted well!

The Refining Recycling article referenced above includes details on the November 10 game activities.

Continuing the fact finding that began in November, the SMAT - Sustainable Materials ACTION Team - attended the August 8 Falcons pre-season game. With the November game findings grounded in collecting compostable items, the August game mission was focused on identifying contaminants in the food & beverage packaging served at the Dome.

Note the intention is to pilot post-consumer food waste collection on the Club Level for the 2014 season while taking the program to the entire stadium in the 2015 season.

Several seasons ago, Dome concessionaire Levy Restaurants embarked on sustainability practices that laid a solid foundation for the post-consumer food waste collection program. In general condiments are served at pump stations, eliminating the common packet contamination. The Dome suites foodservice uses reusable plates, flatware, napkins, serving platters and beverage cups & glasses and concessions serve food & beverage items in compostable packaging, with a few exceptions.

SMAT post-game @ Dome

Under the direction of SMAT chair Sarah Martell of Innovia Films, team members Rick Lombardo of Natur-Tec, Wendell Simonson of Eco-Products and Grant Braasch of NatureWorks toured the Club Level concessionaire operations scouting for contaminants. 

Once the team reconvenes for a recap meeting, Sarah will draft a report for Tim, Holly and Doug. An outstanding item is to determine if pre-season concession service mirrors season service. An anticipated challenge is packaging used by Levy's sub-contractors at games. At the November game, the team found specialty nuts, cotton candy, chips | peanuts and yogurt containers are the main contaminants when picking the Dome general seating for compostable items.

In addition to post-consumer food waste, the pre-season Falcons games are the platform for the on-site source-separated material model business case. In a nutshell, the model consists of moderate generators using mini-balers to source-separate material into bales, which are delivered to a recycling center. Once weighed and tracked by participant, the mini-bales are aggregated by material into standard mill-size bales. The recycling center stores the bales until ready for sale by the tractor trailer load. Revenue is distributed to participants in proportion to material generated.

GWCC values their cardboard & has
an excellent recycling system

Financial success is grounded in two equally important components: 1> volume and 2> clean material, free of contaminants. For volume, the intent is to recruit Atlanta's zero waste pioneers to once again step into a leadership role. One of the underlying mottos in original ZWZ recruitment was "maximum volume, minimum decision makers." Program participants are required to provide CLEAN material - the tagline is Contamination is a Mistake!

Challenge: no infrastructure exists in Atlanta or most cities to handle mini-bales. Yet mini-balers are essential due to the moderate quantity of material generated. A Dome pilot goal is to substantiate the model improves the bottom line after considering baler cost and increased labor necessary for on-site separation. The model is an prime example of Ei's concept Recycling Integrity - maintaining maximum material value with minimal energy expended.

Creating infrastructure requires aggregating a team of industry pioneers within the entire value chain willing to step beyond "the way it is done" and create new operating practices. The following are the pioneers who stepped forward as industry leaders:

Lead Pioneers:

• FreshPoint - nation's largest produce distributor
• GWCC | GA Dome - nation's fourth largest conference center | home to the Atlanta Falcons
• Georgia Institute of Technology (strong interest with no formal commitment) 

Infrastructure:

• Orwak – manufacturer of small balers
• M-PASS Environmental – hauler, owner | seller of material
• UNICOR | Atlanta Penitentiary – recycling center

 End Markets:

• Hilex Poly – world’s largest plastic bag manufacturer
• Novelis – world’s largest aluminum manufacturer with a recycling plant in Greensboro, GA
• Pratt Industries – world's largest manufacturer of cardboard boxes from 100% recycled content with a mill in Conyers, GA

Scott Seydel filming @FP

The model originated as a city-wide plastic film recycling template announced in the ZWA Blog article, If it was easy, it would already be done, with FreshPoint taking the leading role. Details on the plastic film recycling template were updated in the ZWA Blog article, Plastic Film Recycling: A New Frontier. In March Ei announced a video filmed and edited by Ei Chair Scott Seydel in the ZWA Blog article, Plastic Film Recycling Template Video Published.

... and then Tim gave the big YES for the GWCC participating in the plastic film recycling template via the SFCI - Dome. Immediately, the template expanded from plastic film to include common recycling materials generated at event facilities: PET, aluminum and mixed paper.

To build the baseline, Tim requested a waste and recycling audit after the August 8 pre-season game by the Dome waste and recycling contractor. Although easy to determine the material generated via purchasing documents, the quantity of material separated for recycling versus sent directly to the landfill is necessary for the baseline. Understanding the contamination within the current recycling practices is another baseline component.

David, Tim & Louis in
Dome loading dock

While the SMAT team scouted the Club Level, Tim, Holly along with Louis Herrera and David Bangs of Hilex Poly visited the loading dock to check out existing recycling practices and examine the potential mini-baler site. Once the GWCCA recycling specialist is hired, recycling rates will immediately increase when an experienced person takes ownership of material generated at the three GWCCA properties. The new position is timed impeccably with the source-separated materials recycling pilot launch.

In true team spirit, Roderick Jackson with UNICOR | Atlanta Penitentiary joined the Ei folks at the August 8 game. Roderick must understand how material is generated, baled and transported to the Atlanta Penitentiary to create the most effective recycling center procedures. 

Orwak baler scheduled
for Dome delivery

Next steps are delivery of a trial Orwak two-compartment baler for the Dome pilot in time for the August 23 pre-season game. While the prime August 8 game focus was post-consumer food waste, the August 23 game is source-separated material oriented. Ei Partners Novelis - the Falcons recycling partner - along with M-PASS and Pratt plan to attend the game. 

A primary August 23 game goal is to bale enough aluminum and mixed paper for UNICOR to make two to three standard mill size bales. In addition, it is important to calculate the time required to sort mixed material bags and make a mini-bale for labor estimates within the business case.

Once the baseline and fact finding are complete, it is time for the template vision to get a reality check via a solid business plan. When the financials indicate the model promises bottom line rewards, the team will reconvene to chart the action course to refine the Dome's recycling practices, including post-consumer food waste, on-site material source separation and tailgate recycling.

The Ei Team is living the tagline, Sustainability in ACTION, at the Dome! 

Winning Recycling Seasons: Team Work Required!

As the Sustainable Food Court Initiative Event Venue Pilot, the Georgia Dome is committed to the teamwork necessary for Atlanta Falcons' winning recycling seasons. Fact finding tours to witness current practices in action are an excellent first step to refining recycling practices closer to the coveted zero waste threshold.

Falcons Tailgate recycling dumpsters

Georgia World Congress Center Authority sustainability director Tim Trefzer hosted a front and back-of-the-house GA Dome game day recycling tour for Elemental Impact founder Holly Elmore during the September 15 Falcons | Rams game. New Falcons Stadium designers, Carlie Bullock-Jones of EcoWorks Studio & Chris DeVolder of ThreeSixty Architecture joined the fun and informative tour. Beginning with Falcons Landing, the group visited pre-game festivities.

Next on the tour was tailgating in one of the three GWCCA-owned parking lots. While giving away koozies, the Rise Up & Recycle Team circulated throughout the parking lot encouraging fans to recycle. In the 2012 season, Novelis - Falcons recycling partner - provided two brightly colored recycling dumpsters for each parking lot. The colorful dumpsters continue to broadcast a bright recycling message in their second season.

Tim next to the new indoor

recycling bins

New Novelis-provided recycling bins made their debut inside and outside of the stadium at the 2013 season first home game. With fans prohibited from bringing beverages into the Dome, the bins are a haven for valuable aluminum and PET - polyethylene terephthalate, a common plastic used for carbonated beverages and bottled water containers.

A strong zero waste foundation is in place at the Dome, a founding Zero Waste Zones participant. Pump stations are used for condiments with only mayonnaise provided in individual disposable packets, a common containment in food waste for composting streams. Levy Restaurants, the Dome's concessionaire, serves food & beverage in compostable packaging for most items. 

The SFCI Team is exploring solutions for remaining food & beverage "trash" items including the roasted peanut bags. At first glance, either existing products or creative solutions are available for the items.

Event best practices are strong in the GA Dome suites. Levy Restaurants serves food in reusable platters, bowls and chafing dishes along with china plates, stainless flatware, cloth napkins and beverage glassware service. Recycling bins are installed in the back countertop of each suite.

Pre-packaged beverages are

sold in recyclable containers

Pre-packaged game day beverages are served in recyclable material - aluminum & PET. Post game the bowl is cleaned with the beverage containers collected in blue bags for placement in the recycling compactor. Each game approximately 35,000 game programs (pre-game every other seat beverage container is stuffed with a program) and 140,000 promotional flyers (every seat container receives two flyers) are destined for the landfill.  

Although it appears a simple task to collect the program and flyers post-game for recycling, challenges abound. Post-game bowl cleaning is performed via a contracted janitorial service. The janitorial company is only required to separately collect paper products if the task was included as a contract provision during the RFP - request for proposal - process. Another challenge is the constantly changing hourly staff employed to clean the stadium.

Falcons programs &

promotional flyers

Although arduous in the first years, the Portland Trailblazers developed an effective stadium cleaning program. SFCI Team Members  Asean | StalkMarket and NatureWorks worked closely with the Trailblazers on untangling the challenges into success and are eager to share their expertise with the GA Dome.

The tour included a visit to the loading dock area for recycling in action with the cardboard baler, food waste bins for compost collection and the recycling compactor. 

For a tour pictorial recap, visit the Ei FB album, 09-15-13 Falcons Recycling Tour.

Subsequent to the GA Dome tour, Tim and Holly traveled to the Greensboro, GA Novelis aluminum recycling plant. It was impressive to witness first-hand how a can travels through the chipping, baking to remove inks & other contaminants and melting process necessary to make an aluminum ingot. Each batch is tested to ensure specific recipes for the ingot's product destination are followed.

Novelis tour group

Greensboro plant ingots are shipped to a Novelis facility in Kentucky for rolled aluminum production, a raw material in beverage can manufacturing. Once an ingot leaves the Greensboro plant, aluminum cans return to the recycling plant in an average sixty days for yet a another material reuse. 

The SFCI - GA Dome Team is staged for ACTION! At an upcoming home game, team members will "pick" several sections of the Dome for food and beverage waste along with the associated compostable packaging. In addition, food and beverage-related items not compostable will be collected in a separate bag for later analysis. The local composter will place the Dome compostable bags filled with post-consumer food waste in a designated area to monitor it during the decomposition process.

SFCI-GA Dome Executive Team

With the new Falcons Stadium scheduled to open in the 2017 Season, the SFCI - GA Dome Team intends to work closely with the new stadium design team. Lessons learned during the Dome's recycling refinement may be incorporated into the new stadium design. With all parties playing well together, the first Falcons Stadium season is staged for recycling wins before, during and after games and other events.

... and by the way, the Falcons won the September 15 game against the Rams!

SFCI Atlanta Airport Pilot: ACTION Resumes!

In a holding pattern since last summer, the Sustainable Food Court Initiative Atlanta Airport Pilot returns to ACTION mode. When the SFCI pilot launched in June, 2011, the SFCI Team moved into immediate, powerful action. See the ZWZ Blog post, Atlanta Airport - First SFCI Pilot!, for details on the pilot announcement, including the national team members.

With impeccable launch timing, the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport was in the midst of the concessionaire RFP - request for proposal - for the entire airport. The City of Atlanta Office of Sustainability and Department of Aviation team, led by Michael Cheyne - Atlanta Airport director of asset management & sustainability - made the bold, courageous and successful move to include the following provision in the RFP: 

“Concessionaire shall use compostable serviceware along with consumer facing packaging and source separate all food service wastes for direct transport to off airport composting facilities.”

For additional information on the ground-breaking contract provision, visit the ZWA Blog post, Atlanta Airport Makes a Bold Sustainable Statement. 

The first SFCI Team task was preparation of the HJAIA Compostable Foodservice Ware Packet consisting of introduction, fact sheet and frequently asked question sections. In April, 2012 the info packet was issued as a downloadable document via the ZWA Blog post, Compostable Packaging Info Packet. Exemptions and exclusions were specifically addressed in the amended document announced in the ZWA Blog post, Exemptions | Exclusions Added to the Airport Info Packet.

Next on the agenda was development of a Material Usage Form to track contract provision compliance. With form elements complete, SFCI Team member Brenda Platt with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance is working with the City of Atlanta IT department on an on-line, paperless document for concessionaire completion.

Other than the Materials Usage Form, the SFCI Atlanta Airport Team went into a holding pattern in June, 2012. Due to the phase-in nature of the new contract, Concourses A - E & T are hybrids of concessionaires operating under the prior and new contracts throughout 2013.

April, 2012 tour group
see Ei FB album for names

Terminal F - the International Terminal - opened in May, 2012 under the new contract with Ei Partner & SFCI Team Member HMSHost the concourse concessionaire. Prior to opening, the SFCI Team toured the under-construction facility.  See the ZWA Blog post, SFCI Team Tours New ATL Airport Int'l Concourse, supported by the Ei FB album. 04-12-12 SFCI Team Tour of ATL Airport for a tour recap.


With the Atlanta Airport late 2012 shift to Republic Services for their waste & recycling services, Michael Cheyne requested a tour of the Airport's recycling stream destination. Republic delivers the Airport recycling stream to the Pratt Recycling MRF (material recovery facility) in East Point. With schedules flowing, Elemental Impact Chair Scott Seydel joined and Myles Cohen, Pratt Recycling president, led the late March tour with Republic associates attending.

In addition Ei orchestrated a Wilbros Organic Recovery & Biofuels facility visit for Michael. As of this post writing, Wilbros is the only composting site in GA permitted to accept food waste that is accepting food waste. For details on the tours, see the ZWA Blog post, "Seeing is Believing" - the magic of tours. The Ei FB albums, 03-25-13 Pratt MRF Tour and 03-29-13 Wilbros Organic Recovery & Biofuels Tour, include tour pictorial recaps.

SFCI Team during Int' l Concourse Tour

see Ei FB album for names

With the International Terminal nearing its one-year anniversary, the SFCI Team reunited on April 17 for a facility tour. Fact finding in nature, the tour included the terminal loading dock area along with food court front & back-of-the-house operations. Thank you to Kyle Mastin, Atlanta Airport concessionaire manager, for handling the security escort and loading dock tour and Tim Slaney, HMSHost senior director, for the food court operations tour.

For a tour pictorial recap, see the Ei FB album, 04-17-13 SFCI Team Tour - ATL Airport Int'l Concourse.

In early May, the SFCI Atlanta Airport Team will tour the Pratt MRF followed by a zero waste strategy session dedicated to action. It is thrilling to move back in action mode - stay tuned!

ACTION: Theme for the SFCI Shopping Mall Pilot

Within a week of announcing Concord Mills serves as the Sustainable Food Court Initiative shopping mall pilot, the Elemental Impact team visited Charlotte.  An incredible action plan came together during the 24-hour visit.  The ZWA Blog, Concord Mills - SFCI Shopping Mall Pilot, gives the pilot launch details.

First on the agenda was jump-starting the plastic film recycling program after almost a year of discussions and planning. The June, 2011 ZWA Blog post, Simon Property Group Embarks on Zero Waste Initiatives, details the SPG Atlanta meeting marathon where the sky rocketing plastic film dilemma at malls was a major discussion point.  At the June 16, 2011 meetings, Matt Hupp, then  SPG director waste & recycling, met the two main partners in the plastic film recycling program, Louis Herrera of Hilex Poly and Susan Stanton of Orwak.

Ray with Orwak baler

Six days before the Charlotte adventure, the Orwak baler, workhorse for the program, was delivered to Concord Mills. Ray Soporowski, Concord Mills general manager, was prepared for the Ei group with several bales pre-made and an ample plastic supply from tenants. An unused back portion of a tenant space serves as a perfect plastic film recycling center location.  

During the afternoon educational session, a bale weighing approximately 150 -175 pounds was made of typical tenant-generated plastic.  A visual inspection noted the plastic was 80-85% LDPE (low-density polyethylene) and contained approximately 5% contamination.  Ray estimates Concord Mills' tenants generate approximately 150 tons of plastic film per year.

Ei Team with plastic film bale

In order to secure tenant participation, especially those located further away from the recycling center, Ray determined a porter service for material collection was a must. Including the porter service expense, Ray anticipates a nice bottom line improvement due to the strong LDPE commodity market.  With significant mall square footage, Ray plans to create a second recycling center to service the other half of the mall.

Kevin Robertson, SPG corporate,
with Susan & Ron in discussion

At Simon Property Group sister mall, SouthPark Mall, a plastic film recycling system for a mall quadrant is in place under the oversight of operations director Ron Rentschler. After meeting with the Ei Team, Ron is eager to explore how using the Orwak baling system may improve his collection ability, keep the loading area neater and improve the bottom line.

A central focus for the SFCI is food waste collection beginning with back-of-the-house and seguing into front-of-the-house.  On May 21, Earth Farms Organics began BOH food waste collection from the HMSHost-operated Concord Mills food court along with one other mall restaurant.  With approximately 3,000 pounds per week collected, the program to date collection is just over 8 tons of food waste previously destined for the landfill.

Brian Shetron, HMSHost
Concord Mills GM  

With one more mall restaurant to join the program, Ray plans to invite the single-standing restaurants on the mall outskirt property to participate in the collections.  In addition to the environmental impact, the restaurants' volume will build the Concord area route into an economically viable long-term option.  Jim Lanier owner of Earth Farms Organics is a true team player and to date willing to work on the SFCI pilot collections without route density.

At the Atlanta Airport SFCI Pilot, the concessionaires are required to use compostable foodservice packaging and front-of-the-house food waste collection systems will be implemented when the entire airport operates under the new contract provisions (about 18 months).  In Charlotte, current plans are to retain existing food court packaging, much of which is not compostable or recyclable.

CleanRiver signage on SPG
recycling compactor

Thus, an opportunity arises to develop a food waste and napkin-only food court collection system.  Easy-to-identify bins along with superb signage are key to success.  Ei Partner CleanRiver has the equipment and expertise to design an effective system.  One of CleanRiver's assets is their in-house graphics department and print shop.  As noted in the ZWA Blog post, Simon Property Group at Sustainability Helm, CleanRiver created an excellent signage program for mall recycling and trash compactors.

former landfill destined, BOH
food waste now goes to composting

During the SouthPark meetings, Ron and general manager Randy Thomas were enthusiastic to  join Concord Mills in BOH and FOH food waste collection.  With SouthPark's three big-box restaurants (Maggiano's Little Italy, The Cheesecake Factory, & McCormick & Schmick's) and a strong food court including a California Pizza Kitchen with seated dining, there is tremendous potential for impressive food waste collection and cost-savings.  Ron and Randy left the meeting with a big action item: Visit Ray at Concord Mills!

For a pictorial recap of the Ei Charlotte visit, see the Ei FB album, 08-12 Charlotte SFCI Trip.  Be sure to like the Ei FB page while there!

Eric Dyer of Grease Lock
explaining the filter system

In addition to recycling, the SFCI is focused on REDUCTION.  While in Charlotte the first steps were taken for a kitchen hood filter system pilot designed to capture grease before it enters the hood system.  Anticipated results are a significant reduction in hood cleaning, kitchen labor and maintenance expense for grease build-up on roofs.  Note each hood cleaning uses approximately 350 gallons of water that goes into the sewer system along with the toxins inherent in the cleaning solutions. Renown engineering consultant Jayendra Parikh will analyze the pilot and write an independent report on pilot results.

Plastic film, food waste and kitchen grease are the three main initial action areas for the SFCI shopping mall pilot.  Although the SFCI Team in formation will retain a food court focus, the overall Ei Team is excited to work on  zero waste initiatives, including resource reduction, throughout the entire mall operations and grounds.  Stay tuned for future blog posts on the exciting Charlotte projects.