Success Stories

RAC Arena: Showcasing Sustainability

Team Compost Connect, 08 January 2024
RAC Arena: Showcasing Sustainability

RAC Arena is on track to become one of the most sustainable entertainment venues in Australia, taking giant strides toward a landfill diversion rate of 70%.

RAC Arena is Perth’s home of live music, sport, comedy and entertainment. The arena is known for hosting several world-class events, from the UFC 284 to Billie Eilish. But now, it’s becoming known for an entirely different reason – an ambitious goal to become the most sustainable venue in Australia.

At Compost Connect, we’re proud to play a part in RAC Arena’s sustainability story – connecting stadiums and events with commercial composters to help divert food waste and compostable packaging from landfills.

By partnering with BioPak, Compost Connect and WRITE Solutions, RAC Arena has diverted almost 38 tonnes of organics and compostable packaging from landfill. And they’re still going.

The Challenge: Events Are Big on Waste

RAC Arena recognises that huge events can produce a huge amount of waste.

Which is why they’re taking action and implementing sustainable and circular packaging solutions to tackle the enormous waste problem.

Together with BioPak, Compost Connect and WRITE Solutions, RAC Arena has set out to change people’s perceptions of event waste, serving as an inspiration in the events industry across WA and beyond.

Baskteball game at RAC Arena in Perth with the stadium full of people wearing mainly red t-shirts.

Embodying The Circular Economy

By partnering with BioPak, Compost Connect and Write Solutions, RAC Arena has truly embodied the circular economy and achieved incredible sustainability results.

Certified Compostable Packaging

RAC Arena has swapped single-use plastic packaging for reusable cups in retail bars and BioPak’s certified compostable packaging.

BioPak’s packaging is made from responsibly sourced, rapidly renewable plant-based resources – designed to be composted at the end of its life.

The foodservice packaging supplied to RAC Arena is certified home compostable (AS5810) or industrially compostable (AS4736) to Australian and New Zealand Standards.

The certified home compostable (AS5810) and industrially compostable (AS4736) logos under the Australasian Bioplastics Association.

Compost Connect: Connecting RAC Arena With Write Solutions

RAC Arena partnered with Compost Connect to dispose of all compostable packaging and complete the circle. 

Compost Connect is a not-for-profit composting initiative connecting businesses and events to organic waste pickup services. This helps divert food waste from landfill and create nutrient-rich compost instead. 

Through the Compost Connect platform, RAC Arena partnered with Perth-based waste management firm WRITE Solutions to create a sustainability roadmap and end-of-life disposal solution.

Instead of adding to landfills, Compost Connect and Write Solutions are helping turn food and packaging waste into a nutrient-rich resource that captures carbon, promotes healthy soil, and has flow-on effects for plants and the planet.

Two W.R.I.T.E. Solutions employees standing in front of their white waste collection truck with a big orange and blue W.R.I.T.E. Solutions logo on it.

Closing The Loop: Write Solutions

Write Solutions is a team of sustainability consulting experts, facilitating waste collection and commercial composting of food waste and compostable packaging.

“Our mission is to change people’s perceptions of waste and working with a venue like RAC Arena provides us the perfect platform,” WRITE Solutions managing director Daragh Maher said.

In collaboration with WRITE Solutions, patrons and staff are encouraged to dispose of their waste appropriately using one of four bins: Landfill, Organic, Stack Cups, and the Containers for Change bin.

Four-bin system at RAC Arena. First bin is for plastic recycling, part of the Containers for Change initiative. The second bin is for reusable cups, called Stack Cups. The third bin is for organic waste including food waste and BioPak compostable packaging. And the fourth bin is for general waste that will go landfill.

At Compost Connect, we’re proud to facilitate connections between organisations and commercial composters. To see it play out on such a large scale – like the partnership between WRITE Solutions and RAC Arena – is an incredible success story.

Award-Winning Sustainability Results

Since partnering with BioPak, Compost Connect and Write Solutions, RAC Arena has truly championed the circular economy and taken some giant strides toward a sustainable future.

RAC Arena has:

  • Diverted almost 38 tonnes of organics and compostable packaging, which otherwise would have been sent to landfill.
  • Sent 37,930kg of organics and compostable packaging to a commercial composting facility, which equates to eliminating 72,067kg of CO2 emissions from the atmosphere, or the equivalent of powering one household for 6,434 days.

Compostable packaging aside, RAC Arena has also:

  • Diverted more than 120,000 containers as part of the Containers for Change program
  • Recycled 7,860kg of cardboard
  • Recycled 8,910kg of glass

At Compost Connect, we recognise that both recycling and composting should work together to fully realise a circular economy.

As a result of these incredible efforts, RAC Arena was awarded Venue of the Year at the 2023 Australian Event Awards and Symposium – commended for its leadership and innovation.

At Compost Connect, we’re thrilled to play a part in this sustainability success story and can’t wait to follow along as RAC Arena continues to work toward its goal to become Australia’s most sustainable venue.

A true leader in the industry.

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