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07/10/2015
Sustainabilty Initiative: Greener. On and off the pitch.
It started with a cardboard baler in 2008...
Croke Park Stadium: home of Gaelic Games & mecca to GAA fans across the world, welcomes over 1.5 million visitors each year & is proud of its long-established green credentials. Having already become the first stadium in Ireland & the UK to secure both ISO14001 and ISO 20121 standards in 2012, Croke Park is an acknowledged trail blazer when it comes to aspiring to and achieving the highest levels of sustainability excellence in Ireland
- 0% of over 700 tonnes of waste generated annaully goes to landfill
- A decrease in stadium gas consumption with the introduction of the first integrated pitch control system in Europe
- Biodiverity with Croke Park Bug Bee &Bee
Plastic glasses, bottles, cans, burger boxes, coffee cups, match day programmes & tickets... Croke Park Stadium generates over 700 tonnes of waste each year. With such great numbers comes great green responsibility and in 2014, the stadium celebrated reaching a major sustainability milestone. It’s a green goal that started way back in 2008 with the stadium purchasing a cardboard bailer in and six years on culminated in the stadium achieving it’s objective of 0% of its waste going to landfill..
In 2012, Croke Park launched its new three year sustainability strategy. Its goal was to build on the stadium’s achievements to date and reach even greater levels of sustainability across the stadium. A key objective was the ambitious target of zero waste to landfill by the end of 2014. The dual strategy to achieve this objective was to focus on waste management procedures for both event days and non-event days within the stadium.
Within the stadium, a three bin system was introduced – red for general waste/SRF, green for mixed dry recyclables & brown for compostable items (food waste, grass cuttings, paper handtowels, compostable packaging). To complement the new bin system, new signage was designed that best educated staff and colour coded bins with sample pictures of the types of waste being generated on bins specific to their locations.
Croke Park Staff became Waste Watchers
A new post was developed and a waste auditor was put in position at the waste handling facilities on event days whose primary aim is to audit the use of these facilities by all waste handlers and ensure they are complying with the approved policies and procedures. Audits of all mixed waste compactors happen following every event days by Croke Park in conjunction with the stadium facilities, catering and cleaning teams and all compactors leaving Croke Park are audited by Thornton’s Recycling to ensure all recyclables were removed from municipal waste. Monthly surveillance of the waste being generated on non-event days also started to spot check on any new items being found
Baling of cardboard continued and in 2013 the stadium introduced a plastic baler to further improve waste segregation and a special waste segregation area for all waste that cannot go into main waste streams was introduced. Bins were removed from under desks in offices and conferences – ensuring that anyone going to use bins is provided with three options and made segregate their waste as per best practise.
Yesterday I rode my bike twice, does that make me a recycler
In 2014, Croke Park Stadium launched a new pre-event communications strategy to encourage greater public transport use to all events that take place within the stadium. The stadium worked with county PROs and county boards to make supporters attending games in the stadium aware of all the public transport options available to them and how close each of them are to the stadium and a specific journey planner app was launched by the GAA in July 2014 which provides real time public transport options to any supporter looking to travel to Croke Park.
Throughout 2014, Croke Park worked closely with An Garda Siochana, Dublin City Council, Irish Rail, Bus Eireann, private coach companies and Dublin Bus to further promote and highlight public transport options to the stadium. Special deals with public transport companies were organised – for example, fans who used Irish Rail to attend the One Direction concerts in May received a free return luas ticket to travel from Heuston Station to Connolly Station on the night of the concert. New park & ride opportunities introduced at key LUAS and Irish Rail Stations in Co. Dublin & Co. Kildare in 2014 and will be continued in 2015 due to their popularity. A specific media campaign was also rolled out during the Irish Rail industrial action in August 2014 to ensure matchgoers were aware of all alternative public transport options that had been put in place.
The engagement and support of all staff and contractors within the stadium is critical to Croke Park achieving its lofty sustainability goals. Without it, targets and objectives would not be met. Throughout each year, staff attend bi-annual sustainability awareness workshops and receive quarterly updates and reminders as necessary throughout the year to ensure sustainability goals and objectives remain on track. All contractor and staff at Croke Park participate in the three bin system through an environmental education programmes which include regular staff training on match days, management awareness presentations and green committee meetings. With the success of the stadiums ISO 20121 & ISO 14001 management systems within the stadium Croke Park was the first stadium in the UK & Ireland to achieve certification to OHSAS 18001:2007 in November 2013
At the very core of Croke Park is a management team dedicated to ensuring stadium continues to set the sustainability standard not just in Ireland but internationally. Driving the stadium’s sustainability programme is a core team of 15 staff and contractors who strive towards the stadium’s sustainability objectives on a daily basis but it doesn’t stop there & to achieve a rate of 0% of waste to landfill, it couldn’t. The stadium’s commitment to sustainability is bought into at every level within the organisation with every staff member realising the important role they play to ensure the stadium continues to become even “Greener. On and off the pitch.
Croke Park Bug Bee & Bee
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