The Kansas City Chiefs are part of a new partnership that will include pre-packed compostable bags for the peanuts sold at Arrowhead Stadium, making them the first professional sports team to do so.
When the Kansas City Chiefs started their “Extra Yard for the Environment” initiative in 2011, it was about conducting business in a way that protected the environment and encouraging others to do the same. The Chiefs, together with food-service partner Aramark, BASF and Hampton Farms have checked both of those boxes with new packaging for the peanuts sold at the venue.
Starting with the Sunday, Nov. 26 home game against the Buffalo Bills, all peanuts sold at Arrowhead Stadium will be housed in the new bags, and the new packaging will not increase the price.
The bags are 100 percent compostable, and were developed by BASF in conjunction with Hampton Farms, which supplies peanuts to Aramark. Aramark is the Chiefs’ food service partner. The Chiefs’ Vice President of Stadium Operations, Brandon Hamilton, spoke about the appeal the partnership has for the team in a press release.
"“Over the past few years we have put an increased focus on our sustainability program, Extra Yard for the Environment, and have worked to find new, innovative ways to reduce our organization’s carbon footprint. We have received tremendous support from our partners, such as Aramark, and have been fortunate to work with people and organizations like BASF and Hampton Farms who are dedicated to helping us meet our goals. We are excited to unveil this product, as we believe it will have a positive impact on our efforts in Arrowhead Stadium and will also spread to other venues to make a positive change within the industry.”"
While this initiative will be significant on its own, as Aramark says that it sells around 15,000 bags of peanuts at Arrowhead each year, this could be only the beginning. Aramark says that it is currently working to bring the bags to its other NFL partners along with its contingent of MLB and NCAA venues as well. It’s possible that the bags might be seen at Kauffman Stadium as well in 2018 and beyond as well.
The Chiefs were already a leader in the professional sport entertainment industry in terms of being environmentally responsible. This use of compostable peanut bags just pads the team’s lead.
It’s good to see more teams going “green” and helping the environment. It should make fans even prouder of this organization.