One of the most critical aspects of municipal solid waste is its composition, which significantly impacts waste management processes such as processing, sorting, and recycling. Identifying the waste constituents continuously and over time determines the development plans for waste management (Anand, 2010). Waste can be categorized in several ways, including physical state (solid, liquid, or gas), main application (packaging, food, etc.), material (glass, paper, etc.), characteristic (fuel), compostable, recyclable, and origin (domestic, commercial, agricultural, industrial, etc.). Waste can also be categorized according to safety level (dangerous, safe).
The amount of waste produced varies between stadiums and is typically determined by factors such as population density, standards, way of life, consumption, and commercial activities near the stadiums. Examining different aspects of stadium waste, such as production rate, quantity, quality, and source, as well as city characteristics such as pre-existing infrastructures, economic power, topography, weather conditions, and people's culture and lifestyles, is necessary for designing and implementing an efficient and sustainable waste management system (Tchobanoglous and Kreith, 2002; Shaked et al., 2015). (See Fig. 3 for an overview of waste categorization.)
In this study, Atchariyasopon investigated the quantity and types of solid waste generated by football stadiums in the Thailand Super League. The study identified various types of solid waste produced, including plastic bags (22–27%), plastic bottles (11–26%), plastic cups (11–23%), plastic boxes (2–6%), food packaging (9–18%), paper (4–7%), cans (5–12%), hazardous waste (1–2%), and other components (1–3%). The study also reported the average amount of solid waste generated in three stadiums, Muangthong United, Bangkok Glass FC, and Chiangrai United, which were 1111.3 kg, 963.3 kg, and 887.4 kg, respectively (Atchariyasopon, 2017).
In another study, Puangmanee et al. investigated an international marathon running competition in Thailand and found that 2702.70 kg of waste was produced, equivalent to 0.37 kg/day of waste per person. The waste was categorized as hazardous, regular, recyclable, and biodegradable waste, with general papers (blows, plates, and cups), plastic bags, and sponges comprising most of the waste. The list of compostable garbage also included leftover food, coconuts, watermelon skins, and banana peels (Puangmanee and Saearlee, 2020).
Similarly, the waste produced inside the stadium during the 2006 World Cup in Germany was 0.44 kg per spectator, with a composition of 16% biological waste, 9% glass, 7% paper and cardboard, 2% plastic packaging, and 66% other waste. The waste production per person during the World Athletics Championships in Helsinki, Finland, was 0.53 kg in 2005, with mixed waste making up 52% of the total, followed by biological waste (35%), paperboard (6%), paper (5%), and water bottles (2%). At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, 76% of the waste produced was non-recyclable, while 10% was paper, 9% was organic waste, 2% was plastic, 2% was wood, and 1% was cans and glass (Joutulainen, 2008).
During the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, it was estimated that each person generated approximately 1.8 kg of waste per day. In all official venues for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in Cape Town, a total of 616.89 tons of waste were produced, of which 258.9 tons were non-recyclable waste and 358 tons could be recycled. The Cape Town stadium alone produced 155.89 tons of waste, with 35% being non-recyclable, 34% being cardboard, 10% being PET plastic, 10% being cans, 105% being plastic, 6% being glass, and 1% being paper (Death, 2011). At the 2015 Canada Winter Games, data was collected from 19 venues for Games-related events at 4 sample sites. A total of 48 bags of garbage were collected from these 4 locations, with food waste accounting for the majority of these samples (55%), followed by recyclable plastic (13%), non-recyclable plastic (3%), recyclable paper (9%), mixed waste (8%), and recycled beverage (1%) (Rajan and Booth, 2016). The quantity of waste produced at the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia was estimated to be 0.0329 kg per person, with plastic waste (31.56%) and organic waste (59.19%) accounting for the majority of it (Rajan and Booth, 2016). Costello et al. examined waste production at the University of Missouri (MU) football stadium in 2014, where a total of 47.3 metric tonnes of waste were produced, with the majority (29.6 million tons) coming from pre-game food preparation outside the stadium and the remaining 17.7 metric tons from the stadium itself. 43% of the resources were recycled, while 24% were made up of food waste (Costello et al., 2017). During the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, an average of (0.02–0.03) to 3 kg of waste per person per day was produced in the stadium, with a total of 456.8 tons of waste produced from 64 matches(Ravichandran and Ramakrishna, 2021). (see Table 2 for summary).
Table 2
Stadium Waste production and composition
Events | 2005 World Championships in Athletic | 2006 FIFA world cup | 2006 Torino winter Olympics | 2010 FIFA world cup (capetown stadium) | 2015 Prince George Canada Winter Games | 2017 Thai Premier League (3 stadiums) | 2018 FIFA world cup | 2018 Asian Games |
Waste production | 0.53 kg / per person | 0.44 kg /per person | 1.35 kg / ticket sold | 1.8 kg / per person | × | 0.097 kg / per person | 0/03 − 0/02–3 kg / per person | 0.0329 kg / per person |
Paper, cardboard | 11% | 7% | 10% | 35% | 17% | 4%-7% | 297.6 tonnes | × |
Plastic | 2% | 2% | 2% | 20% | 16% | 16% | 55.7 tonnes | 31.56% |
Glass | × | 9% | × | 6% | × | 6%-8% | 34.6 tonnes | × |
Cans | × | × | × | 10% | × | 5%-12% | 46.4 tonnes | × |
Food | × | × | × | × | 55% | × | × | × |
Non recyclable | × | × | 76% | 35% | × | × | × | × |
Refundable beverage | × | × | × | × | 1% | × | × | × |
Biowaste | 35% | 16% | 9% | × | × | × | × | 59.19% |
Wood | × | × | × | × | × | × | 1.6 tonnes | × |
Hazardous waste | × | × | × | | × | 1%-2% | 0.3 tonnes | × |
Other | × | 66% | × | × | × | 1%-3% | × | × |
Mixed | 52% | × | × | × | 8% | × | × | × |
Electronic waste | × | × | × | × | × | × | 0.3 tonnes | × |