In sustainability, small changes can equal big wins. For Aramark, change starts with peanuts.

Appropriately announced in Citizens Bank Park at the Green Sports Alliance Champions of Food Symposium last Tuesday, Aramark President Carl Mittleman revealed the first compostable bag of peanuts.

Home to the Kansas City Chiefs, Arrowhead Stadium will be the first stadium to carry the compostable bags.

Peanut bags may not seem like the sexiest approach to solve climate change. But with Aramark selling over 15,000 bags annually in one stadium and over 1.1 million across sporting events, that small number can add up quickly.

Another bonus of having a compostable peanut bag is education. When fans see the packaging, they start becoming curious and (hopefully) learn about composting, which will make getting on board with the concept more accessible.

The Journey to Compostable Peanut Bags

When the Chiefs approached Aramark for waste diversion ideas, they came back with a solution for one of Aramark’s first products. In 1932, the Aramark founder was slinging peanuts out of his car to start snack vending.

Aramark worked with BASF to develop the bag, created from BASF’s certified compostable ecovio® biopolymer and Epotal® adhesive. But to bring the bags to market, the venue needs to have a composting program – whether it’s streamlined in the back of house (behind the scenes) or the traditional three-tiered receptacles where customers can choose their product’s fate in recycling, composting or landfill.

After the stadium is chosen, testing with the local composting facility is necessary to ensure that the bag properly composts within the facility’s acceptable time frame.

Compostable Peanut bags in Philadelphia?

So how soon can we see the bags in Philadelphia?

Although Aramark won’t reveal an exact date, it sounds like the compostable peanut bags should be in Philadelphia soon enough. Aramark’s goal is to distribute the bags to all sports venues across the country.

Aramark currently manages food and beverage for all 3 South Philadelphia stadiums (Citizens Bank Park, Lincoln Financial Field & Wells Fargo Center.) For example, Citizens Bank Park has a back of the house-only composting program. Lincoln Financial Field uses back of house (behind the scenes) sorters for trash who work to ensure that less than 1% of material is going to the landfill.

Aramark is proud of the current change. As David Freireich, Corporate communications shared, “It’s often the little things that make a big difference. It’s looking at what we serve and sell on an everyday basis, and we’re looking to see what little things we can do to make a big difference for the environment.”

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Julie Hancher is Editor-in-Chief of Green Philly, sharing her expertise of all things sustainable in the city of brotherly love. She enjoys long walks in the park with local beer and greening her travels, cooking & cat, Sir Floofus Drake. View all posts by Julie Hancher