Budweiser Gardens Goes Green!
Q - Transportation, energy, waste and water – what do these have in common?
A - They are all areas that the staff at Budweiser Gardens are focusing on as we get ready to host our first GREEN event on Saturday, February 10th when the London Knights face off against the Sudbury Wolves.
Like many venues in the sports and entertainment industry, Budweiser Gardens has made a conscious effort to evaluate our practices and procedures and look for ways to implement environmentally preferable practices. While many of the changes have been made behind the scenes there are a few that will be quite visible to fans who attend the game on the 10th.
If you have been to a Knights game this season you may have already noticed one of the biggest Green changes at the venue as all the in-bowl lights were changed to LED lights this past summer to increase energy efficiency within the facility. 78 – 695 watt LED light bulbs were installed and the savings have been significant! On average, the venue saves 500 kWH per event, which is the equivalent of approximately half a month’s usage in a typical Ontario home. While it isn’t possible to turn down the lights on Feb. 10th, all fans coming to the game are encouraged to do their part by ensuring that they have turned off their lights at home and lowered their thermostat by a degree or two while at the game. To help fans get a head start in reducing energy in their own homes, London Hydro will be handing out LED lightbulbs to patrons at the game.
The concourses at Budweiser Gardens will also look a little different on Feb 10th, as there will be 24 new Green Bins placed throughout the Level 100 and Level 300 concourses, which will be used for fans to toss out all food waste, food & drink trays, napkins and other compostable materials. By taking the time to put waste in its proper containers, we will be able to divert hundreds of pounds of waste from landfills.
Fans coming to the game on Feb 10th will also have the opportunity to ride on LTC buses for FREE from 5pm through the end of service. Each person will need to present a valid ticket for that night’s game to gain entry onto the bus.
Fans will have even more reason to cheer every save the Knight’s goalie makes as they will count beyond just the scoreboard. As part of the Saves for Trees partnership between Spectra and ReForest London, each save made during the game will result in a tree being planted as part of the Million Tree Challenge, a community-wide project with the focus of planting one million more trees for environmental and human health in London, ON. Downtown London, the official game sponsor, has also agreed to match the total and will plant an equal number of trees. Anyone interested in taking part in the Saves for Trees program can sponsor a tree for $25.00 by visiting http://reforestlondon.ca/sponsor-tree
The Spectra Food Services and Hospitality team at Budweiser Gardens have also taken recent measures to reduce their footprint within the venue to go along with long standing practices such as; composting in the Main Kitchen and 38 luxury suites, providing recyclable or compostable containers at concession stands where possible and ensuring that napkins and other paper products offered to patrons are made from 100% recycled materials. Recently, Budweiser Gardens partnered with Filta to use two of their services; filtafry and filtabio, which will have a significant reduction on their environmental impact.
While Kermit the Frog may have sang ‘It Ain’t Easy Being Green’ we are hoping to show our fans that it really is easy to be Green and we hope that this will be the first of many Green events that will truly help make Budweiser Gardens the House of Green!
