Chick-fil-A Bowl to Host 2nd Annual Sustainability Summit

ATLANTA – (June 18, 2012) Atlanta’s Bowl Game takes leadership role on green scene.

College football’s most charitable bowl game is now on a mission to become college football’s “greenest” bowl game. For the second straight year, the Chick-fil-A Bowl will host the Chick-fil-A Bowl Sustainability Summit presented by Waste Management.
This one-of-a-kind forum for sustainability issues within university athletic departments will be held June 19-20 at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center in Atlanta.

Sessions will focus on environmental challenges facing college athletic programs, materials management and organics recovery, energy and water conservation and provide a forum for university leaders to share their current sustainability efforts while learning about best practices in environmental sustainability.

Panelists include representatives from participating universities, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Georgia World Congress Center Authority and ESPN. Representatives from the event’s presenting partner Waste Management – the leading provider of comprehensive waste management services – will lead a discussion on environmental leadership in a campus environment.

“This forum is a perfect example of the good that can be accomplished when a group of partners come together for the benefit of all,” said Gary Stokan, Chick-fil-A Bowl president and CEO. “We take our leadership role in this effort very seriously and have made it our responsibility to lead the way in helping universities act to reduce their impact on the environment. We applaud our partners who have teamed up to create more sustainable campuses and events.”

Made possible through the leadership and support of the EPA, Waste Management, Georgia World Congress Center Authority, Coca-Cola Recycling and HaglerHomrich Consulting Group, this year’s Summit will be attended by more than 20 colleges and universities, including Alabama, Auburn, Boston College, Clemson, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, NC State, Ohio State, South Carolina, Tennessee and others.

“Waste Management is committed to helping colleges and universities be greener. By sponsoring the Chick-fil-A Bowl Sustainability Summit, we’re providing solutions to the environmental challenges facing institutions of higher learning,” said Paul Pistono, vice president of Waste Management’s Public Sector Solutions. “Whether it’s educating students about recycling, greening stadiums or increasing diversion rates, we see this forum as one more way we can create more sustainable campuses and events.”

The Chick-fil-A Bowl established itself as a college athletics industry leader in environmental responsibility by launching its sustainability efforts in 2010, making it among the first college bowl games to focus on proactive green initiatives.

In its second year of focused sustainability efforts, the Chick-fil-A Bowl continued to lead by example by creating new initiatives and delivering on a promise to reduce waste.

For the 2011 Chick-fil-A Bowl, 540 recycling containers were used around the Georgia Dome, and Chick-fil-A added specially marked Styrofoam recycling containers.

These new efforts, plus additional staff training, led to a 41% reduction in landfill-bound trash in 2011 as compared to 2010. All told, 31% – or nine tons – of all waste generated at the 2011 Chick-fil-A Bowl did not end up in a landfill, through recycling of single-stream (paper, aluminum, plastic and glass), compost, cardboard, Styrofoam and wood. The Chick-fil-A Bowl will continue to grow its sustainability efforts in 2012, specifically through the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Games, Chick-fil-A Bowl, and Chick-fil-A Bowl Week activities.