Athens Services Advances Zero-Waste Goals During SoCal's Summer of Soccer

The game encouraged participation in source separation throughout the events. These efforts made it easy for fans to participate in sustainable practices while enjoying the festivities, contributing to cleaner, more environmentally responsible events.

Across three summer events, Athens Services collected more than 38.8 tons of material, including 18.3 tons diverted from landfills through recycling and organics collection. This included 12.6 tons of recyclable materials and 5.7 tons of organic waste.

Every beverage container placed in a recycling receptacle, and every food scrap diverted from the landfill reflects a shared commitment between Athens Services and the community to build a more sustainable future. By providing accessible recycling, organics, and trash collection stations alongside on-site education, Athens empowered residents and visitors to make informed disposal decisions.

This partnership made sorting materials into trash, recycling, and organics at the point of disposal simple and convenient, increasing recovery opportunities, reducing contamination, and helping advance shared sustainability goals.

After collection, Athens routes the waste through a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), where specialized equipment and trained personnel identify and separate recyclable materials before any remaining waste is transferred to the landfill. This additional processing creates another opportunity to recover valuable resources, though source separation remains the first and most important step in reducing waste sent to landfills.

The three-stream collection system reinforces the objectives of California Senate Bill 1383, which established statewide requirements to reduce the amount of organic material disposed of in landfills. When food scraps and green waste decompose in a landfill, they generate significant greenhouse gases, highlighting why separating recycling and organics have become a central component of California’s waste and climate strategy, and a core focus of Athens sustainability efforts.

The work doesn’t stop when the game ends. Long after the crowds depart, each material stream continues through collection, sorting, recovery, and processing, highlighting how individual decisions become part of a much larger environmental system. Athens’ support of Los Angeles’ summer soccer events represents an investment in cleaner public spaces, stronger community partnerships, and the infrastructure required to turn those individual choices into measurable results.