Located in Downtown Atlanta, home of the Georgia World Congress Center, Georgia Dome and Centennial Olympic Park.
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In August, our campus, which is comprised of the Georgia World Congress Center, the Georgia Dome and Centennial Olympic Park, diverted 18.5% of our total waste produced. Broken down by venue, our facilities diverted:
GWCC – 17.3%
Dome – 24.2%
Park – 14.3%
Waste is primarily diverted on campus through single-stream recycling (glass, paper, aluminum, plastic), composting, food donations and recycling pallets, baled cardboard and grease.
We also sell reusable items on GovDeals through our Purchasing department and recycle metal, wire and any other applicable materials.
In FY 12, our campus diverted 1,349 tons of material from landfills, 32.4% of our waste stream. Learn more about our efforts here.
Our sustainability coordinator, Tim Trefzer, recently spoke at the Georgia Recycling Coalition Annual Conference about Georgia World Congress Center Authority (GWCCA) recycling efforts, how these efforts have grown, how we have improved and challenges we are addressing.
Tim wrote the following about his talk at the event:
I recently had the pleasure of speaking in the “Access, Educate, Evaluate” plenary session of the Georgia Recycling Coalition’s annual conference. The intent was to highlight the progress we’ve made in the relatively young waste diversion program on our campus and share the innovative ways we are able to divert and measure many materials that are often challenging to control.
One of the challenges we face is time. When a tradeshow ends, contractors are brought into the exhibit halls of the GWCC to tear down what is often essentially a small city. To make it easier and faster to collect materials like corrugated cardboard, visqueen or plastic film, we place rolling crates in these areas with signage for collection. We hope to add new materials to our collection process in the very near future and we regularly remind contractors of this practice.
We know visitors to our campus may not be thinking about recycling when they attend a large sporting event. We look at this as an opportunity for recycling education and have worked to provide messaging to fans both inside and outside the Georgia Dome identifying what materials are recyclable and reminding them to recycle. We also try to make recycling as visible and easy to do as possible. Nearly every trash container on our campus has a recycling container next to it.
Although we haven’t been able to measure all of our waste streams until the last couple of years, we do have enough data to show that the past year ending in June showed an increase in waste diverted from landfills by 8.9% to 32.4%! While there is still plenty of room for improvement, we know that we are headed in the right direction by focusing on our work with clients, visitors, partners and internal employees.
Pictured: A few members of the GWCCA Green Team with City of Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed during the 2012 Downtown Atlanta Earth Day Clean Up Challenge earlier this year.
For the third consecutive season the Georgia Dome has been named one of PETA’s top five most vegetarian-friendly stadiums in the NFL.
Moving up one spot in the rankings from 2011, the Georgia Dome is ranked fourth among the NFL’s 31 Stadiums according to PETA for vegetarian friendly options. The Georgia Dome was also ranked fourth on PETA’s list in 2010.
In a letter to Falcons owner Author Blank, PETA Associate Director Chris Holbein said, “The Georgia Dome is a leader in providing healthy, humane food to fans. Animal-friendly and health-conscious Falcons devotees appreciate the great meat-free meals at the stadium.”
Earlier this week, GWCCA Sustainability Coordinator Tim Trefzer participated in a panel discussion hosted by the Green Meeting Industry Council - Atlanta Chapter. about the planning process involved for sustainability initiatives during major events that take place in Atlanta. The panel took place an Southface, a nonprofit in downtown Atlanta that has promoted energy-, wind- and resource-efficient workplaces, homes and communities throughout the Southeast for over 30 years.
Tim was joined on the panel by Mark Root from Coca-Cola Recycling, Suganthi Simon from the Environmental Protection Agency and Kristin Delahunt from the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau. The discussion focused on planning that is in the works for the NCAA Final Four 2013, which will take place at the Georgia Dome this coming April with ancillary events at the Georgia World Congress Center, Centennial Olympic Park and throughout the city of Atlanta.
Pictured (l-r): Tim Trefzer, Georgia World Congress Center Authority, Mark Root, Coca-Cola Recycling, Suganthi Simon, EPA, Kevin Johnston, Green Meeting Industry Council of Atlanta and Kristin Delahunt, Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau
Novelis, the world’s largest aluminum can recycler, is the official recycling sponsor of the Atlanta Falcons, and in conjunction with the Georgia Dome and Waste Pro, has provided eight new recycling stations for four parking lots around the stadium. These are strategically placed in the primary tailgating areas to help collect game day recyclables, including aluminum, steel, glass and plastic bottles and containers, clean paper products and cardboard. Two recycling containers were also added at each gate entrance to the Georgia Dome to collect additional recyclables from attendees entering the stadium, and PSAs are played during the games to remind fans to recycle their bottles and cans.
These containers and PSAs will help raise awareness among fans about the importance of recycling materials and will help contribute to our campus’ overall sustainability efforts.
This semester we have two sustainability interns working with the Georgia World Congress Center Authority (GWCCA) Sustainability Coordinator Tim Trefzer.
Jumoke DeLoach is studying for her Doctorate in Public Policy from Walden University, and Chris Strange is studying for his Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies and Political Science from Emory University.
Jumoke is working on several of our tailgate recycling programs at the Georgia Dome for various college and professional athletic events. She is also working with events at the Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC) to divert additional materials from the landfill through donations and recycling. She’ll be doing some of this through designing new signage as well as working with our waste hauler on LEED-compliant waste stream audits.
Chris is helping develop policies and practices that coincide with our LEED certification efforts. Primary focus areas are purchasing-related and require him to help identify environmentally-friendly product purchases, tracking and documenting these items. He’ll also be developing standards for vendors to follow in terms of more sustainable operations, such as an integrated pest management plan.
During the month of August 2012, the Georgia World Congress Center Authority (GWCCA) campus collected a total of 11.5 tons (23,093.5 lbs.) of corrugated cardboard, which resulted in a total of 48 bales that were recycled. This is the largest amount of corrugated board ever collected by the GWCCA in one month’s time. Our next largest month was February 2012 with 8.9 tons of corrugated cardboard.
A special thanks to our Building Services department for their diligence and hard work.
