The Atlanta Braves’ season might be over, but the winning hasn’t stopped at SunTrust Park in Atlanta. The team’s home, where Delaware North operates hospitality services for the Braves, last week was awarded Best Sustainability Initiative as part of the Excellence in Concessions Awards given out by VenuesNow magazine, a leading publication in the sports and entertainment facility management industry.
Delaware North’s sustainability efforts through its GreenPath platform was a primary reason for the ballpark being recognized. Led by Fritz Smith, compliance manager for Delaware North at SunTrust Park, the GreenPath team focused on cutting waste across the board.
Through July, the ballpark had diverted 255 tons of materials from landfill, nearly as much as the 269 tons diverted for the entirety of 2018 and a promising start to reaching a goal of 336.5 tons diverted — a 25% increase over last year. In particular, the ballpark had made significant gains in diversion of organic waste/food waste (37 tons in 2019 vs. zero last year) and glass (17 tons vs. zero), while working well ahead of last year’s pace in plastic and aluminum (29 tons through July 2019 vs. 32 tons for all of 2018).
To highlight the achievement, VenuesNow profiled the GreenPath efforts at SunTrust Park in a feature article, which can be read in full here.
PHOTO CAPTION: The Delaware North Sportservice team had a small ceremony in the office to celebrate their recognition from VenuesNow. Shawn Mattox (back row), vice president of operations for Delaware North Sportservice, presented the award to the GreenPath team, led by Fritz Smith, compliance manager for Delaware North at SunTrust Park (fourth from right).