Reducing and Preventing Waste at Sports Venues

In 2026, Seattle will serve as one of 16 host cities for the FIFA World Cup. The city anticipates welcoming over 750,000 fans for soccer and celebrations. As hundreds of thousands of people eat and drink around Seattle and Lumen Field, Seattle could, without proper planning, experience a surge in landfilled food, packaging waste, and greenhouse gas emissions. Seattle’s Lumen Field already has the capacity to divert over 90 percent of waste from the landfill, and the Seattle World Cup 2026 Zero Waste Team aims to expand the stadium’s and Seattle’s zero waste and emissions efforts during the World Cup. The Zero Waste Team includes activities related to both public spaces and voluntary opportunities for businesses to participate at privately owned and operated locations. 

With support from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 10, the Seattle World Cup 2026 Zero Waste Team partnered with ERG to support the Zero Waste Team’s efforts to use reusables and prevent food waste at key locations across Seattle during the World Cup and beyond. With long-standing experience leading reuse and waste-prevention efforts for local and state clients, ERG is helping to organize, launch, and facilitate meetings and learning sessions for an overarching Steering Committee and four workgroups. ERG also maintains email lists, runs bi-weekly workgroup meetings, and assists with additional research requests. ERG aims to help the Zero Waste Team understand existing and achievable waste prevention and management pathways at large-scale athletic venues through technical support and literature reviews. Recently, ERG showcased research on the results of public outreach campaigns conducted around food waste for sporting events, and it supported a kickoff webinar on reusables for all Zero Waste Team members.