Mariners Seeing Increase In Recycling, Composting At Safeco Field

Mariners Believe Recycling Efforts At Safeco Field Will Save Club About $100,000 A Year

In the first three Mariners games at Safeco Field this season, 70% of "service ware -- cups, plates, even eating utensils -- used by Mariners fans and employees was recycled or composted," up from 38% last season, according to Susan Gilmore of the SEATTLE TIMES. Mariners Dir of Public Information Rebecca Hale said that the "emphasis on keeping food-serving-and-eating items out of the trash will save the team about $100,000 a year in landfill fees; last year, the team saved $60,000." Mariners VP/Ballpark Operations Scott Jenkins noted that there are "just 17 garbage cans" at Safeco Field this season, as "all the others have been replaced with 300 compost containers and 200 recycling bins." Hale said that plastic bottles "make up the largest single number of recyclable items" at Safeco, and as a result ballpark employees "sift through the garbage" to pull them out. Gilmore notes "almost everything else is compostable." Jenkins said that he envisions a 70% "compost and recycling rate" for the entire '10 MLB season, "and it could even get" up to 85%. Recycling at Safeco was at 12% of the waste in '05, before rising to 18% in '06, 25% in '07, 31% in '08 and 38% in '09 (SEATTLE TIMES, 4/21).