Mariners mark Earth Day 2020 with new sustainability efforts
Even with the 2020 Major League Baseball season on hold, the Seattle Mariners are celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day and highlighting the team’s ongoing commitment to ensuring that T-Mobile Park is one of the greenest ballparks in baseball.
Sustainability Leader
The Mariners have long been leaders in sustainability through recycling, composting, and energy efficient practices at T-Mobile Park. Nearly everything used at the ballpark is recyclable or compostable, which has helped the team achieve an annual recycling rate that averages over 85%. Every year since 2010, Major League Baseball has named the Mariners American League Recycling Champions, and in 2017, the Mariners received the Green Glove Award as MLB’s top recycling team.
Since 2013, Eco Products has been the preferred provider of all compostable serviceware to T-Mobile Park, including production of custom items that have been key to efforts to divert millions of tons of waste from landfill.
Earth Day 2020
In honor of Earth Day, the Mariners are announcing several sustainability updates to T-Mobile Park operations that are reducing our environmental footprint.
- Electric Mowers: Head Groundskeeper, Bob Christofferson, has made the switch to zero emission electric mowers for the playing surface at T-Mobile Park. The mowers are quieter, require less maintenance and are powered by renewable electricity.
- LED Retrofits: The Mariners Garage and Press Box have been converted to energy efficient LED lighting. Both projects are expected to save over 300,000kWh of electricity each year.
- EV Charging Stations: Four new Level 2 Electric Vehicle Chargers have been installed on the plaza next to the Mariners Garage. The chargers are available to the public 24/7. Since their installation, they have helped avoid 3,294kg of greenhouse gas emissions.
- Plant-Based Food: In partnership with hospitality partner Centerplate, the Mariners are expanding the menu at The Natural, the concessions stand that features organic, vegetarian and vegan offerings. New menu items include Beyond Burgers, vegan sausages and other plant-based products.
- On Earth Day, Centerplate is hosting a video cooking session on April 22 at noon PT, and Q&A with the Ocean Conservancy, a sustainable seafood advocacy group, to remotely bring a taste of the ballpark to Mariners fans.
Environmental Pioneers
The Mariners were the first MLB team to stage a "carbon neutral" game on Earth Day 2008, and over the years have mitigated the harming effects of emissions and consumption of natural resources through the purchase of carbon offsets, renewable energy credits and water restoration certificates.
In 2014, the Mariners became the first Major League Baseball team to illuminate the playing field with LED lights. The fixtures use 60% fewer watts of electricity than traditional lights and reduce power usage at T-Mobile Park by 784,000 kWh each season.
Solar panels now provide over half the electricity used on an annual basis at the Mariners Spring Training complex in Peoria, Arizona, and an array of solar panels on the roof of the T-Mobile Park skybridge generate 40,000kWh of power each year, which is fed into the ballpark’s distribution grid.
The Mariners are founding members of the Green Sports Alliance, a groundbreaking coalition of professional sports teams and sporting venues committed to promoting “greening initiatives” in sports.