Renovated Rogers Centre honoured for sustainability efforts

KANSAS CITY -- While Daulton Varsho and his teammates are building their early cases for a Gold Glove Award, the Blue Jays added a green one to the mantle.

The Blue Jays have been named the recipient of the 2023 Green Glove Award, which recognizes the MLB club that “demonstrates outstanding commitment to diverting waste from landfills at their ballpark.”

The announcement came alongside MLB naming WM (Waste Management and Recycling Services) as the league’s official sustainability partner, the first partnership of its kind in league history which will focus its efforts on ballparks and the communities surrounding them.

The Blue Jays have spent the past two offseasons carrying out sweeping renovations to Rogers Centre, which opened in 1989 as "SkyDome" but had needed significant work to carry it into the future. After tackling the upper bowl (500 Level) and outfield sections a year ago, this past winter saw the organization tear up the lower bowl and begin work on the heart of the stadium, including player facilities and new club areas.

There’s an environmental factor to a small kitchen renovation, let alone a stadium makeover that costs nearly $400 million. The Blue Jays reached “nearly 100% annual waste-diversion rate” throughout the process, earning them their first Green Glove Award. The other finalists were the San Francisco Giants, Minnesota Twins, Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia Phillies and San Diego Padres.

You’ll see events around baseball to commemorate Earth Day on Monday as clubs continue their greening efforts. Right now, 29 clubs have installed LED field lighting, 11 ballparks utilize on-site gardens, 10 ballparks use solar power and six are LEED certified.

“The leadership and commitment of MLB in the delivery of environmental, social and economic impact has been evident, from being the first North American league to join the Green Sports Alliance, to achieving the Council for Responsible Sport's top-level Evergreen status of Event Sustainability for the 2023 All-Star Game in Seattle,” said Aileen McManamon, chair, Green Sports Alliance. “Their holistic and substantive approach to sustainability merits notice and imitation by all sports rights holders.”

MLB has also added three more sustainability awards. The Philadelphia Phillies won the Power Pitcher Award, recognizing the ballpark that shows “exemplary efforts in preserving power and energy usage from the previous year." The Los Angeles Dodgers won the H2O Home Run Award, which goes to the club that demonstrates “exceptional dedication and achievement in reducing its water usage from the previous year." The San Francisco Giants won the Eco-Slugger Innovation Award, which goes to the club that enacts “environmentally sustainable practices and initiatives either in the ballpark or in the community.”