Feature image credit: AMB Sports & Entertainment.
On Jan. 8, the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, made a triumphant announcement during an Atlanta Falcons football game: The stadium had achieved TRUE Platinum certification for its zero waste efforts.
Mercedes-Benz Stadium originally achieved TRUE precertification in June 2022 as part of the team's vision of sustainability leadership for the sports industry, before achieving TRUE Platinum certification at the end of 2022. George Bandy, a board member for GBCI, joined Dustin Mason, an associate director of U.S. Market Transformation and Development at USGBC, to present the stadium’s plaque to Arthur Blank, owner and chairman of the stadium, Steve Cannon, CEO of AMBSE, and Dietmar Exler, COO of AMB Sports and Entertainment (AMBSE).
Mercedes-Benz Stadium is one of the busiest stadiums in the country, with more than 50 events and 3 million visitors annually. Its journey to TRUE certification had to account for the variables created by the broad number of events and visitors that fill the stadium. However, AMBSE, the stadium operator, remained committed to reducing environmental impact.
AMBSE’s leadership explains the importance of zero waste at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in this video:
“This certainly is not the end; there is no finish line for us when it comes to sustainability,” said Mercedes-Benz Stadium sustainability coordinator Andrew Bohenko in the press release. "This is a great achievement for us and something the whole Blank Family of businesses has been working toward since the inception of the stadium in 2017, but it is by no means where we stop.”