Huhtamaki Partners with Sporting KC

The love for soccer has quickly spread across the nation and Sporting Kansas City (SKC) is transforming the sport for the better. The American men's professional soccer club recently announced a five-year partnership with Huhtamaki as the club’s official sustainable packaging provider. The overarching goal of the partnership is to create a more sustainable stadium for Kansas City. Through SKC’s Sporting Sustainability platform, the transformational commitment will define what it means to be a sustainable sports team. The stadium is integrating Huhtamaki’s innovative products which will divert stadium and facility waste from landfills by moving towards compostable and recyclable products in all premium spaces. While the collaboration aims to reduce the environmental footprint of the stadium’s operations, it will also enhance the fan experience at Children’s Mercy Park.

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Sporting Kansas City has a goal of becoming a zero-waste facility by 2027. To achieve this objective, Huhtamaki has been working in conjunction with Sporting Kansas City on several fronts, including packaging design and fan education to ensure that foodservice products are disposed of in the proper waste streams. ?Well-designed packaging plays an important role in attaining a circular economy and proper education of the fans is crucial to achieving the stadium's goal.?This includes clear instructions during the match on how and where fans should dispose of their waste. ?A QR code is included on all Huhtamaki packaging to educate, communicate sustainability messaging, and help in proper disposal. Each package includes “Compost Me” or “Recycle Me” instructions that are color-coded to coordinate with the waste collection bins.?Fans will also find clearly marked signage on each bin with photos of items that should be placed in the collection bin to further simplify the waste disposal process.

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To take it one step further and ensure end-of-life claims, a steering committee was formed with key stakeholders in the value chain to ensure circularity is achieved and the loop is closed.

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All good things take time, but the stadium’s sustainability statistics are already improving.?Sporting Kansas City has implemented many changes at Children’s Mercy Park to attain their ambition of becoming a zero-waste facility. The SKC team has diverted 48% of waste from landfill on average through June 30th (15% increase over 2022). With the implementation of Huhtamaki’s compostable packaging, composting has increased 15% in that same time. There are now a total of 23 recycling/composting dual-gallon containers added to the concourse (up from 10 a year ago) as well as updates to the suites to accommodate composting solutions. After the match, a team sweeps the stadium to ensure any left behind packaging and food makes it into the proper bin.?

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While the partnership with Huhtamaki is new, this is not the first time Sporting KC has focused on sustainable efforts. In 2018, the team established the Sporting Sustainability platform with founding partners Missouri Organic Recycling (Composter) and The Nature Conservancy. Leaning heavily on the two partners to implement the program, they first tackled back-of-house food waste. Since joining the platform in 2023, Huhtamaki has committed to several Sporting KC community programs, including a “Recycle your Game” sponsorship. The Recycle your Game program allows fans to donate lightly used soccer balls and cleats, which will then be distributed to children in underserved Kansas City communities through a soccer clinic facilitated by the Victory Project.

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As stadiums around the country strive to be more sustainable, Huhtamaki is getting in the game by providing innovative packaging solutions that are compostable or recyclable. SKC's stadium-size vision matched Huhtamaki’s 2030 sustainability ambitions on two key topics: transitioning to a circular economy and taking climate action, while not forgetting other environmental and social aspects of sustainability. Together, we are working on building a better future for those who dare to deliver on the promise of sustainability for Kansas City and the planet. For a true partner in innovation and to keep up with all the latest 2023 trends, visit Huhtamaki at https://www.huhtamaki.com/en-us/north-america/foodservice/.