Optus Stadium ‘fight against fill’ initiative

Article posted by Coliseum, July 28^th, 2023

Perth’s Optus Stadium (Burswood, Australia) has joined the fight to save 10-cent containers from landfill, installing 460 ‘Containers for Change’ bins throughout its venue.

‘waste MANAGEMENT REVIEW’ stated that more than 2.2 million drink containers are sold at the Optus Stadium each year with about 71 percent of those being recycled through the stadium’s former system.

The 60,000-capacity Perth Stadium, currently known as the Optus Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multipurpose stadium in Perth, Western Australia, located in the suburb of Burswood. It was completed in late 2017 and officially opened on January 21^st, 2018.

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‘waste MANAGEMENT REVIEW’ further stated that the new initiative is expected to increase recovery rates to about 90 percent and save more than 600,000 recyclable containers from landfill each year.

The Minister for Environment and Climate Action Reece Whitby made the announcement recently at the Optus Stadium with Mike McKenna, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Optus Stadium, Tim Cusack, CEO, Western Australia Return Recycle Renew Limited (WARRRL) and representatives from the Australian Football League (AFL) teams Fremantle Dockers and the West Coast Eagles. The Optus Stadium serves as these two teams’ home ground.

Perth, Western Australia (Australia)-based the Western Australia Return Recycle Renew Limited (WARRRL) is a not-for-profit organization created to establish and run Containers for Change in Western Australia.

The Containers for Change inspires a brigade of Western Australians united in the fight against the fill. Every 10c container returned to authorized ‘Containers for Change’ refund point gets another chance -rescued by you, recycled by us and released to live its potential, again and again.

Melbourne, Victoria (Australia)-based the Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent and only fully professional competition of Australian Rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition from the Victorian Football Association, with its inaugural season in 1897.

The Australian football, also called Australian Rules football or Aussie Rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground.

The Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed the Dockers, is a professional Australian Rules football club competing in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport’s elite competition. The team was founded in 1994 to represent the Port City of Fremantle, a stronghold of Australian Rules football in Western Australia.

The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian Rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 as one of the two expansion teams in the Australian Football League, then known as the Victorian Football League.

The VenuesLive has partnered with environmental company Veolia on the project, which has involved an overhaul of the waste infrastructure and signage throughout the Optus Stadium.

New South Wales (Australia)-based the VenuesLive live and breathe the business of venues and events. It’s who they are and where their expertise lies. It is the proud operator of the 83,500-capacity Accor Stadium at the Sydney Olympic Park in Sydney, Optus Stadium in Perth, the 30,000-capacity CommBank Stadium in Parramatta, Western Sydney, and the 20,059-capacity Central Coast Stadium in Gosford, along with delivering Catering and Hospitality Services at a range of other venues. The VenuesLive is committed to ‘Creating The Experience’ and connecting people through the power of live events. It focuses on orchestrating remarkable experiences for the fans, venue owners, event partners, and the local community.

Aubervilliers (France)-based Veolia is a French transnational company with activities in three main service and utility areas traditionally managed by the public authorities – water management, waste management and energy services.

The complex will now feature specific bins for drinks containers, recyclables, organics, and general waste.

More than two billion containers have been recycled since ‘Containers for Change’ was introduced in Western Australia in October 2020, creating more than 800 jobs. The recycling rate of beverage containers in Western Australia has soared in that time from 34 percent to 63 percent.

David Templeman, the Sport and Recreation Minister, said the rollout of the ‘Containers for Change’ recycling bins could not have come at a better time as the Optus Stadium showcases a huge series of events over the next eight months – “Western Australians are known for their love of sport and live events. This is a huge opportunity to increase recycling rates among a big audience. We hope the millions of visitors to the Optus Stadium each year get behind this initiative and create new recycling habits.”

Reece Whitby, the Environment Minister, said the collaboration between ‘Containers for Change’, VenuesLive and Veolia is a game-changer, promoting the importance of recycling and making landfill the last resort – “Almost three quarters of drinks containers lost to landfill are discarded by those out and about. The Optus Stadium is to be commended for making these bins available to improve our recycling habits.”

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