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April 22, 2022
As one of the United States’ largest sponsors of live sports and entertainment, brewing company Anheuser-Busch is uniting its sports team partners – including Major League Baseball and the National Football League – to launch the National Recycling League: a multi-sports league coalition to reduce game-day waste.
The National Recycling League wants to create meaningful connections between Anheuser-Busch’s brands, its league and team partners and sports fans nationwide to raise awareness of the need for recycling and drive key recycling behaviors among consumers wherever they cheer on their favorite team – whether it’s in-stadium, at home or at a neighborhood bar.
Leveraging the scale and reach of the brewer’s partnerships to elevate how the beverage industry encourages recycling, it builds on the company’s ongoing commitment to sustainable packaging and recycling, and its membership in the Green Sports Alliance. Anheuser-Busch has committed that 100% of its packaging will be made from majority recycled content or will be returnable by 2025.
“The Green Sports Alliance is inspired by Anheuser-Busch’s 2025 Sustainability goals and its new National Recycling League program to motivate millions of fans to help improve recycling rates in stadiums across the nation through the power of sports,” said Roger McClendon, Executive Director of the Green Sports Alliance.
With baseball season officially underway, more than ten MLB teams – including The St. Louis Cardinals, Houston Astros, San Diego Padres, Texas Rangers and Washington Nationals – have signed on as inaugural league members.
As part of the launch, select MLB partners will deploy “Recycling Hawkers” – similar to the beloved beer hawker – in stadiums to collect used cups, cans and bottles from fans to ensure they are recycled properly. Recycling Hawker volunteers from non-profit Keep America Beautiful® will encourage fans to hand over their recyclables so that those items can be sorted from the trash and recycled.
Each team has committed to adopting and implementing a range of innovative activations to reduce waste and improve recycling rates at stadiums to help divert recyclable materials such as beer bottles and cans from landfills. Activations include infinitely recyclable aluminum cups instead of single-use plastic as aluminum can be recycled over and over again without losing its quality, in-seat recycling decals and in-stadium signage sharing a simple call-to-action with consumers – ‘Recycle Like a Champion.’
In addition to in-stadium activations, select partner teams will compete head-to-head with the brewer calling on fans to join the National Recycling League and recycle their bottles and cans, with the winning city getting a round of beer on Anheuser-Busch. The city of the participating team which has the highest recycling rate during home games from Opening Day through May 31 will get a round of beer in celebration of their commitment to reducing waste on game day.
“At Anheuser-Busch, we approach everything we do – including sustainability – with an innovation mindset so that we can create an outsized impact,” said Brendan Whitworth, CEO of Anheuser-Busch. “Through the National Recycling League, we are thrilled to bring together our team partners and sports fans to work towards a shared dream of a future with less game day waste and more cheers.”
The brewing company plans to work alongside teams across the NFL among other league partners to enlist them to participate when the 2022 NFL season kicks off in September.
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