Yankees, the American League champion have come forward to pay their share to the planet. The team, a member of the Major League Baseball’s American League East Division is working in collaboration with other member teams towards incorporating sustainable business practices, ballpark operations and more. The 2009 World Series, which kick-starts in New York from today will be the place where the franchise along with other members of MLB’s Go Green team will be out encouraging fans to take up recycling practices.
The eco-friendly new Yankee Stadium, where the teams will play for the first time will be full of Ribbon Board messages encouraging fans to minimize waste. There will be in-stadium announcements to promote green living, while groups of the Green Team will circulate with recycling bags to make the process as convenient as possible.
This is not for the first time that the Yankees have supported some green efforts. Earlier also the club has been seen taking up eco-friendly practice, be it prioritized the environmental impact of their new stadium, recycling cooking oil to produce biodiesel fuel, using recyclable paper products or switched to eco-friendly light fixtures for the stadium. The Yankee Stadium was enacted under a sustainable facility program, which ensured the efficiency of equipment while focusing on energy reduction. Beverage cups made of biodegradable material were chosen upon petroleum-based plastic ones. The waste produced is dealt through composting and recycling cardboard, glass, metal and plastics, hence keeping nearly 40 percent of Yankee Stadium’s trash away from landfills. This also leads to reducing carbon emissions due to trash picking trucks that are required to take the waste to landfills.
The organization is also working towards recycling cooking oil used throughout the stadium to help produce carbon emissions. Nearly 8,879 gallons of cooking oil had already been saved from Yankee Stadium, producing some 7,192 gallons of biodiesel fuel. The magnificent huge hall of the stadium relies on natural cooling rather, saving the same amount that would be preserved when 10,000 New York City apartments would shut off their air-conditioning for one day. The club has switched to eco-friendly light fixtures that consume approximately 300 fewer watts than similar stadium fixtures, hence saving some 207,000 pounds of carbon emissions. They have also brought fully recyclable paper products in their restrooms and concession stands.
Via: MLB