An overview of my trip to the most sustainable stadium in the world.
Written and Photographed by Ashley Currey
As someone who has lived all of their pre-high school life in the Atlanta metropolitan area, I was ecstatic to know that I would be able to visit again after several years. I moved to Pennsylvania in 2018, right after the Mercedes-Benz Stadium was built in Atlanta. Even though I saw the stadium during its construction, I was never able to see it completed - until now.
Penn State was scheduled to attend the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in December 2023, and I was lucky enough to go as a part of the Blue Band.
The Mercedes-Benz Stadium is the first LEED Platinum-certified professional sports stadium in the world. It is home to the Atlanta Falcons and the Atlanta United FC of Major League Soccer.
In this article, I will give you the inside scoop of my experience there and show you some sustainable as well as cool things about the stadium.
No Trash Cans?
While walking around the stadium I saw that there were recycling and composting bins, but I didn’t see any trash cans. The sign above the two cans says to recycle bottles and cans and compost everything else.
This concept of composting everything else was radical to me.
After taking another look at their waste management system I realized that they processed everything they got and sorted it. So things that could not be composted or recycled could be considered trash by waste management experts.
This system allows MBS (Mercedes-Benz Stadium) to divert over 90% of its waste from landfills.
Natural Lighting
As a large indoor facility, a lot of light is needed to illuminate MBS. This need can drive up energy costs, so instead of using only artificial light, “windows” were built into the stadium.
A large portion past the west end zone is natural light as you can see in the picture to the left.
Looking through it you can see the Atlanta skyline as well as some of the solar panels they use. These panels were designed to be very visible to encourage the public to support more solar energy initiatives.
Transportation
Walking around the MBS parking lot, you can see the MARTA stop just by the entrance of the stadium. The parking lot itself is attached to the stadium so the fact that a train can take you almost inside was impressive to me.
“Designed to Give”
There were several videos played during the game that said that MBS was “designed to give”. One of the ways they do this is by donating half of the 50/50 raffle to Children’s Health Care of Atlanta. During the 2023 Peach Bowl, the raffle surpassed a total of $190,000.
Another thing that MBS does is use the compost they created in Gainesville, GA in their community garden. This urban garden is something they use to reach the surrounding community via education for public schools and culinary programs.
Lastly, they divert food waste by partnering with Second Helpings Atlanta and giving them their unused food shortly after an event. On their website, they have stated that they were able to provide over 200,000 meals for the surrounding Atlanta community.
I hope you enjoyed reading some insights from my trip to MBS! Below are some additional pictures I captured:
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