From the World Cup to the Home Team
The 2026 FIFA World Cup has just wrapped up. For the first time, the tournament was hosted by three countries, with matches played at 16 stadiums—11 host cities in the United States, three in Mexico, and two in Canada. It was an exciting global event—and also a remarkable real-world illustration of just how complicated recycling can become at a major sporting venue.
Tens of thousands of people are carrying or purchasing beverages, food, programs, souvenirs, and merchandise. They speak different languages, have different recycling habits, and may have very different ideas about what belongs in a recycling bin. During breaks and immediately after a match, enormous numbers of people are trying to dispose of those materials at essentially the same time.
Now multiply that challenge across 16 stadiums, three countries, and numerous local waste and recycling systems.
FIFA placed sustainability among its areas of focus for the tournament. The host stadiums entered the World Cup with very different sustainability programs and capabilities. Thirteen of the 16 stadiums had earned LEED certification before the tournament, while four were reported to be diverting nearly all of their waste from landfill through recycling composting and reuse.
Performance varies dramatically depending on the venue, its collection infrastructure, the materials sold inside, local recycling markets, composting availability, back-of-house sorting—and, importantly, how clearly the system communicates with fans. As of this writing, FIFA’s final post-event sustainability results do not appear to have been released, so it would be premature to assign a tournament-wide recycling or waste-diversion rate. But the World Cup provides an excellent backdrop for a larger question:
How do you get thousands of people to put the right thing in the right bin when you have only a few seconds to communicate with them?
The Challenge Doesn’t End at the World Cup
Like airports, stadiums and entertainment venues everywhere face the same problem. People are moving quickly, carrying food and beverages in a variety of containers, along with programs, merchandise, and packaging from concession stands and gift shops.
Unlike an international event, most visitors to a local stadium may live relatively nearby. But even then, the rules aren’t necessarily familiar. Recycling programs can vary from one municipality to another within the same state. Something you routinely put in your recycling cart at home may not belong in the recycling stream at the stadium a few miles away.
That makes clear, immediate communication at the point of disposal essential. A fan shouldn’t need to stop and study a container. Colors, openings, words, pictures, and symbols should work together so that the correct choice is almost instinctive.
When Branding Gets in the Way
And then there’s branding.
Sports venues understandably want their recycling programs to feel like part of the fan experience. Team colors, mascots, slogans, and clever graphics can turn an ordinary trash or recycling container into something fun and memorable.
But getting someone’s attention isn’t the same as telling them what to do.
The local examples below illustrate the point particularly well.
University of Maryland: The Terrapin graphics are clever: one turtle incorporates a trash can while the other incorporates the recycling symbol. It’s distinctive, memorable, and very Maryland. But the graphics primarily communicate trash versus recycling. They don’t tell a visitor whether a plastic cup, food container, bottle, can, or program actually belongs in the recycling side.
Baltimore Ravens: Purple is an obvious and effective branding choice, and the familiar recycling symbol makes the purple container identifiable as recycling. The neighboring black container, however, emphasizes Ravens branding rather than a prominent TRASH message. Regular fans may understand immediately. A first-time visitor has to guess.
Baltimore Orioles: The orange container, Orioles bird, recycling symbol and Go Green message certainly grab your attention. “Please Recycle” reinforces the intent. But once again, the most important question remains: Recycle what?
Bottles? Cans? Plastic cups? Paper? Food containers? A recycling symbol tells us this is a recycling bin. It doesn’t necessarily tell us what is recyclable here.
That’s the lesson that connects a neighborhood stadium to the biggest sporting event in the world. Whether you’re one of thousands of Orioles fans in Baltimore or one of millions of international visitors attending the World Cup, the recycling container has a remarkably short window in which to do its job.
Good branding gets people to notice the bin. Good recycling communication gets the right material into it.
And if even a tree-hugger like me has to stop and think about which bin to use, we probably shouldn’t expect 70,000 excited fans heading for the exits to figure it out.