INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — Sunday’s home opener for the Kansas City Chiefs is taking on an environmental mission.
Arrowhead Stadium will be the NFL’s first to widely serve drinks in reusable plastic cups. Bold Reuse, a company that promotes reusable plastics for sports facilities, plans to wash and sterilize thousands of durable plastic cups each week.
Sunday will mark the company’s first implementation at Arrowhead Stadium, making the home of the Chiefs the first NFL home field to offer only reusable plastics.
Bold Reuse’s facility in Independence resembles a giant dishwasher, where people and machines work to clean cups from previous games, inspecting them for any cracks or stains.
Jay Raines, who manages Bold Reuse’s programs in Kansas City, said special collection bins will be placed around Arrowhead Stadium for reusable cups. Once those are collected, they’re cleaned in Independence, and made available for future games.
“The Arrowhead Operations office does such a good job. If you just leave your cup in your seat, the operations team is going to collect that, and bring them back to where we will collect them as well,” Raines said.
Two other NFL franchises, the Chicago Bears and San Francisco 49ers, also offer reusable cups, but only in their private club levels. Raines said his company used these methods last year at CPKC Stadium for KC Current home matches.
“Every year, we come out with something new and fresh,” Matt Kenny, Arrowhead Stadium’s EVP for Operations & Events, said.
“It’s a big part of our sustainability issue. It’s a 50-plus-year-old venue. It’s something that’s key and important to us.”
As for those cups that may make their way outside the stadium or into a trash can, Bold Reuse has that in mind. Raines says he hopes to see eight out of ten come back to his plant in Independence, where the loop starts all over again.