Super Bowl Will Include Food Waste Composting, Biodiesel

This year’s Super Bowl for the first time will collect food waste on game day for composting, as well as using biodiesel to power generators.

That National Football League (NFL) is taking other steps to make for the most environmentally friendly championship game yet, also including planting trees near the host East Rutherford, N.J., MetLife Stadium to offset carbon emissions, according to a MetLife Stadium news release.

"We try and push the envelope every year,” said Jack Groh, a consultant who directs the NFL's environmental programs.

About seven to eight tons of food waste are expected to be generated during the Feb. 2 Super Bowl, according to Dave Duernberger, MetLife Stadium's vice president of facilities. The material will go into a giant compactor and then be transported to a local facility for processing. The end product can be used for landscaping.
The facility also use waste cooking oil to process biodiesel fuel used in generators that will power Super Bowl Boulevard, the 13-block party on Broadway that will feature entertainment and a giant toboggan slide.

The biodiesel also will power generators that are augmenting the power supply on the MetLife Stadium grounds – as much one third of the 18 megawatts of electricity estimated to be needed to supply power for the complex during the game.

In the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, the NFL sponsored e-waste recycling events in New York and New Jersey that collected 9,000 pounds of old phones, computers and other gadgets, according to New York-based Verizon Communications, which partnered in the program.

After the game, the NFL will donate several miles of fabric signage to nonprofits or other groups for repurposing.