Through a partnership with Huhtamaki, a global packaging company whose North American headquarters is less than 30 minutes from the soccer stadium in Kansas, Sporting Sustainability reimagined the way the club handles food and beverage service. At the beginning of the 2023 season, Children’s Mercy Park debuted eight dierent types of compostable or recyclable food containers. The ability to design the containers with the team’s logo and colors was an added value. It’s Huhtamaki’s first sports team partnership and could serve as a test case for expansion to other venues. Along with the containers, 32 compost collection bins were strategically placed around the stadium last season for fans to use. The number of bins is expected to nearly double for the 2024 season. The changes also include operational innovations. Regular visitors to the stadium are probably familiar with the short announcement at the end of matches, instructing them to leave containers at their seats. Sta then sweep through, ensuring recyclable and compostable materials reach the right bins, rather than putting that responsibility on hurried fans. Sporting Sustainability has continued to progress throughout the life of the program. Its steering committee has grown to 10 and the scope of the program is bigger than ever.
Smith and Handler are looking toward 2026 when Kansas City hosts FIFA World Cup matches at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium as another platform for growth. The arrival of thousands upon thousands of soccer fans from around the globe oers a valuable opportunity to promote sustainable practices in sports to a worldwide audience. It’s the power to use sports to make a dierence in all aspects of life that keeps driving Sporting Sustainability forward. “If the program is at its best, there’s just so much potential for it to influence the community positively,” Handler said. practices extend through the team’s Sporting Club Network, an aliate program with 150,000 youth athletes and 65 youth teams and associations across seven states: Missouri, Kansas, Indiana, Iowa, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Michigan. Sporting KC has helped introduce TNC and Sporting Sustainability to more and more people with annual theme nights at Children’s Mercy Park. Fittingly, that has grown, too. In 2024, “It’s bigger than Kansas City.” The lessons of nature-friendly Sporting Sustainability took center stage throughout April, stretching what had been a one-game event into an entire month.
Why I Do This Work
“ I think it’s vital for any company to support their community. Back in 2018, we met with industry experts who became our steering committee and helped build Sporting Sustainability. Those experts and others have become great partners in the past six years. It’s exciting to see what the combined eorts of our sustainability partners, Club and so many individuals and organizations can accomplish. Just last year, we reached over 45% diversion rate— that’s nearly half the food service waste from Children’s Mercy Park professionally, but also personally rewarding. As a kid growing up in Alabama, I was in the woods and wilderness all the time. I developed an early love for nature and want to do all I can to protect it. That’s why I joined The Nature Conservancy’s Board of Trustees in Missouri. I have followed and supported TNC for several years, noticing the positive impact they make locally and worldwide. Now, having a voice in decisions related to sustainability is inspiring. I’m grateful to be part of TNC’s eorts. ” —Jon Moses, Sporting Kansas City Vice President of Corporate Partnerships and TNC Missouri Trustee diverted away from landfills. Those kinds of results (and there are more to come) are
THIS PAGE BOTTOM Compostable and recycleable food containers are part of reducing waste at Sporting Kansas City games. Courtesy Sporting Kansas City THIS PAGE TOP Jon Moses, Sporting Kansas City. Courtesy Sporting Kansas City
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