As the newest (and largest) sponsor of the Houston Dynamo, Greenstar Recycling has already made a significant investment in the club. Soon, though, fans can expect Greenstar to be putting its recycling bins where its money is.
The Dynamo and Greenstar have already met to discuss ways to incorporate recycling into all aspects of the team business. Dynamo Senior Director of Operations Paul Byrne said initial meetings covered five key areas: team office, current home venue, training facility, future home venue, and grassroots event.
“It’s a matter of figuring out how we integrate recycling programs into those elements,” Byrne said. “For instance, at the Houston Amateur Sports Park, we want to come up with a program that will keep the complex sustainable by making sure to properly dispose of all bottles, paper, and other waste.”
Greenstar Recycling CEO Matt Delnick, himself a former college soccer player, said he is looking forward to spreading the company’s message and encouraging recycling, even in a state rarely lauded for environmental efforts.
“We are very excited about taking recycling to every corner of North America,” Delnick said. “For us to partner in a sports arena, it’s a chance to reach a bit of a different audience.”
The Dynamo expect to educate employees on recycling habits in the team office and at events, hoping they will carry that message to the fans. As part of the change, the club will enter Houston's Green Office Challenge.
“There’s now a need for our employees to be able to educate other people about recycling,” Byrne said. “For events, we hope to have Greenstar available to educate fans, and we also want to have containers at all of our events.”
Probably the most extensive part of the increase in recycling, however, is likely to come in the Dynamo’s new stadium, and it will start well before Opening Day 2012.
“We definitely want to be recycling during our construction process,” Byrne said. “Greenstar has had a relationship with Manhattan Construction up in Dallas, so they’ve worked together before, and that’s something we’re definitely going to do. Once the stadium opens, there are a whole slew of things we can do, but we haven’t narrowed things down yet.”
While purple recycling bins could become the norm on the concourse at the new Dynamo stadium, the real color concerning both parties in this combined effort is ‘green.’
“We’re excited about having the resources to educate our fans about what they can recycle and how they can help,” Byrne said. “I guess you could say we’ll be putting a little green in our orange.”
