What do people do when they watch sports games? DRINK! Because of this, beer cans or bottles always lie around the stadium after an event finishes. However, Anheuser-Busch, a famous beer giant, came out with the idea that it would incentivize people to recycle their bottles and cans. This will increase the recycling rate of empty bottles and cans during a sports event and reduce the cleaning effort needed.
This year, Anheuser-Busch brought a cycle reverse vending machine to NFL and MLB sports events stadiums to encourage people to recycle empty bottles and cans. This also allows fans to join its National Recycling League (NRL) and win prizes. The vending machine will give prizes, such as tickets to the Super Bowl event, for every recycled container. As for the NRL, it is a campaign that Anheuser-Busch started to help encourage recycling and reduce waste during sports events. Its current activations include “offering infinitely recyclable aluminum cups” instead of single-use plastic ones and a call-to-action of “Recycle Like A Champion.” During these sports events, there will also be Recycling Hawkers, volunteers from an organization called Keep America Beautiful, to help collect used cups, cans, and bottles to ensure every container will be recycled properly.
This initiative is undoubtedly a huge step for sports events to be more environmentally friendly. However, it is difficult to imagine if this campaign will be successful without knowing the scale of this project, such as how many vending machines will be placed and whether the fans know this event is ongoing. Also, another factor that will influence the success of this campaign is whether the prize is appealing. For instance, if today, they are only going to give out a minimal amount of Super Bowl tickets, the fans might think the chance to win such a ticket is too little and decide it is too much work to go out of their way to participate.
Despite the potential concerns, as previously mentioned, this is a huge step. I look forward to such a campaign being brought up not only in NFL or MBL, but other international events such as the Olympics or FIFA.