Comments on: How Environmentally Unfriendly is Youth Soccer?

By: Soccer Dad

Soccer Dad — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 22:32:37 +0000

Hmmm not sure that would work too well for your kids. My main point was simply about reducing plastic bottle waste. But if you think you need to go to such extremes where you live, by all means have at it!

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 22:19:44 +0000

I’ve got an even better idea, Tear up the fields and get rid of the grass. Think of the hundreds of gallons of water used for a soccer field. Let alone fertilizer, mowing, etc.

And uniforms, think of the millions of uniforms that are made each year. What a waste! They should be biodegradable, or those athletes should just have to play nude!

By: Soccer Dad

Soccer Dad — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 22:02:23 +0000

So because we can’t eliminate all environmental impacts of youth soccer we shouldn’t try to mitigate some of them? It has to be all or nothing?

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 21:59:30 +0000

Really, then no one should play soccer. That way, no grass has to be mowed or watered for the fields. No plasic bottles are used. No gas is used to drive to the fields, no lights are powered on at night.
Yes, just think about how wonderful it would be.
LOL!
Maybe we should all sit in a cave and chew on burlap. Think about how environmentally friendly that would be. While you’re at it, dont think of letting your kids use a leather ball or cleats.
Come to think about it. What about those cleats. There are millions of them. Made of plastic (think of the petroleum being raped from mother earth) its just terrible!!

By: Soccer Dad

Soccer Dad — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 21:54:55 +0000

The upfront cost of a fountain machine could be prohibitive, but with many smaller food establishments going out of business, you might be able to pickup a used one cheap. Plus if you stay away from the carbonated drinks, you don’t need to worry about CO2, though it’s not impossible to manage. eBay often has a lot of these available (we’ve looked into getting a used hot chocolate/cappuccino machine that makes it from hot water and powder) We sell Hot Chocolate and Coffee like crazy during the cold months, which are 1/3 the season at least.

If anyone gives it a go, by all means share your experiences. Be sure to check with your health dept too and see if there are regulations related to that and concession stands.

By: Jenn

Jenn — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 21:50:20 +0000

We buy several quart bottles of Gatorade and re-use the bottle (either with water or powdered Gatorade) until it gets too hard to clean anymore. It’s not environmental conscientiousness as much as it being cheap. :p

The Gatorade fountain idea is great, as are the team logo bottles. I may suggest it to our club, since we have a concession stand at the park to cater to the kids and parents during practice, as well as during games.

By: Molly

Molly — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 21:18:14 +0000

The number of bottles my family was using during a season was insane. Last year we bought stainless bottles to take to games, the largest size for the player and my husband and I have smaller ones. My son also had a huge insulated thermos that is in someone else’s mini van somewhere in the city…so I can’t reuse that one.

Luckily at his age group they don’t “do” snacks anymore so I don’t have to come up with a solution to 20 packs of gummy goo!

By: Soccer Dad

Soccer Dad — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 20:39:25 +0000

Yes, and a decent water filtration system (NOT reverse osmosis, which wastes an insane amount of water) isn’t that expensive.

Like the idea of the club logo water bottles. Could be a fundraiser to boot!

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 20:11:22 +0000

This really is something to think about. What if clubs ordered and sold club-branded reusable water bottles? The good ones? Support your club, and try to be enviro-friendly at the same time.

I love the Gatorade fountain idea. Could do the same with water if you had a good, clean source. Some tap water could taste funny, depending on the location of your fields.

By: Soccer Dad

Soccer Dad — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 19:36:55 +0000

I’ve found most people bring snacks in the foil bags – not exactly biodegradable, but also very minimal in terms of waste volume. I’ve found key placement of trash cans can have a BIG impact on how much trash gets left out after games. We try to keep trash cans within 20′ of any team bench or parent sideline.

By: Karen

Karen — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 19:24:14 +0000

We always send our kids to practice with their refillable sports bottle. The waste I see is at the games when parents sign up to bring the snacks. This is nice but would be less wasteful if we did this ourselves as well. Interested to see any suggestions your readers might have.