Press Release
BASF gives Seattle Mariners green boost to launch ‘Sustainable Saturdays’ at Safeco Field

BASF News Release For immediate release BASF gives Seattle Mariners green boost to launch ‘Sustainable Saturdays’ at Safeco Field First 10,000 fans at Earth Day weekend game take home free ‘Kitchen Catcher’ compost kit with compostable bags SEATTLE, WA, & Wyandotte, MI, April 16, 2012 -- On April 21 - Earth Day Weekend - one of the greenest clubs in major league baseball teams up with BASF, The Chemical Company, to inspire its fans to follow its lead and start striking out landfills at home. Well on their way to batting 1.000 in their zero-waste program, the Seattle Mariners currently divert more than 80 percent of their waste stream away from landfills into composting and recycling centers. The Saturday, April 21 Mariners-Chicago White Sox matchup marks the launch of “Sustainable Saturdays, a season-long program at Safeco Field to promote the kind of environmentally-conscious practices that have earned the club the prized position of number one in energy efficiency and number two in recycling in Major League Baseball. The first 10,000 fans to arrive at the ballpark on Earth Day Weekend will receive a free “Kitchen Catcher” compost kit, compliments of BASF, Ecosafe, and Seattle Public Utilities (SPU). Inside are five compostable bags produced with BASF’s Ecovio® biodegradable polymers. This weekend’s game also marks the launch of the BASF Kid Compost Trivia game where fans compete for a chance to win an Amazon Kindle Fire and appear live on the centerfield video board at the end of the seventh inning. 2 “When we realized that the bulk of what we were sending to the landfill was organic matter, the answer was obvious,” says Scott Jenkins, Vice President of Ballpark Operations for the Seattle Mariners. “Turn it back into topsoil. Our zero-waste program has gone from batting .120 just five years ago to .810 today. To help fans follow our lead this Earth Day Weekend, we’re giving away 10,000 kitchen compost kits including everything they need to get going. With the help of our fans, we aim to make 2012 the most sustainable Mariners’ season ever.” The Kitchen Catcher will include a countertop container, five Ecosafe compostable liners, SPU coupons for Cedar Grove compost and savings towards the purchase of Ecosafe bags -- plus simple steps to help fans follow the team’s green lead. At each of the 10 Sustainable Saturday games, at the end of the first inning, the public address announcer will invite fans to play the BASF Kid Compost Trivia Game and test their knowledge about sustainability at Safeco field and the Seattle area. Trivia questions will be broadcast on the centerfield video board. Fans do not have to be eco-experts to win because all of the answers are provided at 16 zero-waste stations throughout the concourse, where they will also find the short code to text their answer for their chance to win. The winner will be drawn at random from all the correct answers. At each zero waste station, volunteers from Camp Fire USA’s Teen Leadership Program will be standing by to teach fans how to strike out the landfill on their visit to Safeco Field and encourage them to do the same at home. Then, in the bottom of the seventh inning, Kid Compost, one of the Mariners’ eco-mascots, will present the winning fan with a Kindle Fire broadcast live on the centerfield screen. “Sustainable Saturdays at Safeco are about showing Mariners’ fans how we can all live more sustainably,” said Chris Bradlee, Biodegradable Polymers - Market Development Manager, North America, BASF, who will be on hand to throw out the first pitch at this Saturday’s Earth Day Weekend game. “The Mariners are already doing a great job conserving water, natural gas, and electricity, recycling waste, and using renewable energy at Safeco Field. Now, we’re helping them engage their fans to do the same at home.” Mariners - Safeco Field, a green ballpark 81 percent recycling rate Since 2006: • 45 percent reduction in natural gas usage • 30 percent reduction in electricity usage over 5 years 3 • 25 percent reduction in water usage over 5 years All office copy paper is 100 % post-consumer. All restroom paper is 100% recycled and minimum of 65% post-consumer. Utilize green cleaning practices including 98% of cleaning products purchased green certified. 168 solar panels generating 40,000 kW hours per year. Cut electrical use in garage in half via a relighting project. Installed 4 electric vehicle recharging stations. Amazon, Kindle, Kindle Fire, the Amazon Kindle logo and the Kindle Fire logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. Ecovio is a registered trademark of BASF SE. BASF - The Chemical Company BASF Corporation, headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, is the North American affiliate of BASF SE, Ludwigshafen, Germany. BASF has more than 16,000 employees in North America, and had sales of $19.9 billion in 2011. For more information about BASF’s North American operations, visit www.basf.us. BASF is the world’s leading chemical company: The Chemical Company. Its portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics, performance products and crop protection products to oil and gas. We combine economic success, social responsibility and environmental protection. Through science and innovation we enable our customers in almost all industries to meet the current and future needs of society. Our products and system solutions contribute to conserving resources, ensuring healthy food and nutrition and helping to improve the quality of life. We have summed up this contribution in our corporate purpose: We create chemistry for a sustainable future. BASF posted sales of about €73.5 billion in 2011 and had more than 111,000 employees as of the end of the year. Further information on BASF is available on the Internet at www.basf.com. For immediate release Media Inquiries: Susan Jackson BASF Corporation Tel: (724) 575-2732 E-Mail: [email protected] Rebecca Hale Seattle Mariners Tel: (206) 346-4324 E-Mail: [email protected]