Like most people in DC, I want to live in a city with no litter, cleaner rivers, and fewer rats. The RFK Stadium deal – which the council will vote on this week – represents our biggest infrastructure in a generation and a once-in-a-lifetime money shot at scoring a win for meaningfully reducing trash. The Commanders seem to share this vision – they were spotted this past weekend hosting a clean-up at the riverfront at Kingman Island near the site of their future stadium.
But if the DC Council passes its RFK Campus Redevelopment Act of 2025 (Bill 26-288) next Wednesday without binding, world-class waste prevention measures, our new billion dollar stadium is destined to create a deluge of trash. The average NFL game generates 80,000 pounds of trash, much of it single-use plastic and food waste. That’s 40 tons per game, the weight of a fully loaded semi-tractor trailer.
The Commanders and the DC Council seem ready to agree to LEED certification at the stadium, which is a start. But the truth is that industry certification, whether LEED or “TRUE” don’t go nearly far enough to stem a potential tide of single-use foodserviceware, bottles, and cans. Bottles and cans already make up 60% of the weight of litter caught in the Anacostia river's trash traps, according to the Anacostia Riverkeeper, and fewer than 30% of plastic bottles in the U.S. are ever recycled.
Without clear, enforceable re-use and trash reduction goals, the draft stadium bill, even with the stamp of industry certifications, won’t even meet DC’s own waste diversion goals when it comes to reducing a rush of single-use trash, compostable or not.
At best, a LEED or “TRUE” stadium would result in some recycling and limited composting, but they would not address the major issues of single-use trash, food waste, or food recovery.
Between games, the stadium will be hosting concerts and other events that could generate enough single-use plastic cups to fill two and a half football fields with plastic cups each every year. Hauling, incinerating, and picking up all this trash is inefficient and a huge waste of DC public tax dollars.
Local DC environmental advocates estimate that, with amendments to strategically address waste-reduction, RFK Stadium can divert up to 90 percent of its waste from landfills, mainly through re-use and composting. And we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. DC can easily follow the lead of sports leagues and stadiums across the country that are already reducing waste with specific, proven measures in place.
First, we can require all beverages be sold in reusable cups, which can then be washed at an on-site wash hub and re-used, at scale. I.M.P concerts, which operates The 9:30 Club and The Anthem, is already doing this in DC. It provides reusable cups in partnership with r.World, a leading reusable cup provider, which builds wash hubs and hires local people to help operate them.
Fans should also be allowed to bring their own refillable water bottles, such as required by this NYC law. Not allowing reusable water bottles virtually forces people to create trash. We can require food rescue and composting as MBS stadium does in Atlanta, and provide bins to separate trash from reusables, compostables, and recyclables. We should require that staff collect and sort materials that are left in the stands after patrons leave, as multiple Major League Baseball franchises do.
On the infrastructure side, the final deal should require a shared wash hub at the venue (both to wash reusable cups and for use by other businesses), a resource recovery room to facilitate collection and sorting. And it would be a miss to build the stadium without water bottle refill stations throughout, just like Yankee Stadium has in New York.
These measures aren’t a heavy lift or expensive, and they’ve all been done before here in DC and in stadiums across the country. Without these plans and commitments from the Commanders, we will see trash filling up the green spaces nearby and floating down our rivers. It doesn't have to be this way.
The Council shouldn’t punt this issue to future generations and forfeit now when it comes to managing trash the smart way at RFK Stadium. The Commanders have a chance to be good new neighbors, reduce trash at the source, and not just host cleanups for the trash their stadium creates. Realizing DC’s zero waste and sustainability goals shouldn’t just be a pickup game. Together we can score a real win for a trash-free DC.
Written By: Amanda Wilson, a writer living in Washington, DC and a volunteer with Sierra Club DC’s Zero Waste Committee.