Staples Center

STAPLES Center "Going Green"

As the home of four professional sports franchises and the host of high-profile events of national and international distinction, STAPLES Center fully recognizes and accepts its responsibility to help improve local economic, social and environmental conditions.

Since opening in 1999, STAPLES Center has taken a very proactive role in establishing and creating programs and initiatives to operate the sports and entertainment arena in the most environmentally conscious way. The most effective ways STAPLES Center has accomplished and attained their 'Green Goals,' is by reducing waste, through recycling programs, purchasing biodegradable and non toxic cleaning products, making energy efficiency a standard for best practice and investing in innovative sustainable technology like waterless urinals and solar panels.

Waste Management, Waste Reduction and Recycling

STAPLES Center has a dynamic recycling and source separating program. The operations team works with various partners to separate and collect cardboard, wood pallets, electronic waste, and in association with our concessions partner, Levy Restaurants, works to glass, plastic and aluminum beverage containers. Which makes puts STAPLES Center in full compliance of assembly bill 2176 AB - 2176.

Throughout the year, STAPLES Center will be working to expand these programs and divert more waste from landfills to recycling. Working with their partner Waste Management as well as the Los Angeles Department of Public Works, Bureau of Sanitation to get their suggestions and/or recommendations on how to increase recycling and to ensure the arena is up to date on the best and most effective waste reduction and recycling programs are in place.

Energy Management

When it comes to controlling and managing our electrical consumption, STAPLES Center has the following policies in place:

• Low voltage lighting relays that control the sequence and operation of all task, general and event lighting. Lighting groups for specific times and use.
• Use of fluorescent lighting and LED, instead of incandescent lighting.
• Use of electronic ballast instead of magnetic ballast.
• Variable Speed Drives (VSD) on all air handlers and one chiller.
• Time schedules and photo cell control of exterior lighting.
• Use of only super efficient 3-phase motors.

Waste and Recycling

STAPLES Center takes a very active role in waste reduction and recycling. In addition to providing mixed recycling to our building tenants STAPLES Center is taking special measures to source separate as much recyclable material as possible. We recycle all cardboard and wood pallets separately and we work in association with our concessions partner, Levy Restaurants, to source separate glass and plastic from all concessions and restaurants. We are currently working with Waste Management to develop a comprehensive waste reduction strategy.

Cleaning Chemicals

Currently STAPLES Center uses two products that are certified 'Green'. Both products are distributed by Hillyard Chemicals. Currently, the arena uses a sanitizer for porcelain and other hard restroom surfaces, and a disinfectant for floor work. STAPLES Center is committed to continually exploring different options and new products that certified 'green' cleaning chemicals as they hit market.

Public Transportation

STAPLES Center works to encourage public transportation through partnerships with teams like the Los Angeles Kings who offer ticket discounts to metro riders as well as offering secure bike racks for guest use.

STAPLES Center fans attending events are encouraged to take the Metro and other forms of public transportation to the venue, several of the teams offer ticket packages in conjunction with Metro. The venue has also installed a sufficient supply of bike racks on the venue property.

Waterfree Urinals

STAPLES Center has recently removed 178 one-gallon per flush urinals and installed 178 zero-gallons per use urinals created by Falcon Waterfree Technologies. The Falcon Waterfree urinals are one of those rare products that save money and time while conserving natural resources.

As much as 5% of fresh water consumed is currently used to carry away urine. Each Falcon Waterfree urinal typically saves 40,000 gallons (151,000 liters) of fresh water per year. This water does not need to be transported to the urinal or away from it to the water treatment facility, saving energy. No energy need be used to treat this water, nor does it produce carbon dioxide emissions as a byproduct of its treatment. Finally, by reducing the load on treatment plants, the Falcon Waterfree system can reduce the need for costly water treatment capacity and reduce the incidence of overflow events at treatment facilities.

Solar Panels

STAPLES Center currently has 1,727 solar panels installed on its' rooftop. The new photovoltaic (PV) solar electric systems provided by Solar Panel Inc., have been installed to provide solar power and electricity for both venues. The systems will provide significant environmental benefits and serve as an extension of AEG's environmental and sustainable energy initiatives. The 345.6 kilowatt system associated with the STAPLES Center will provide significant environmental offsets over the next 25 years. These benefits include the elimination of over 10,000 tons of CO2, more than 27 tons of sulfur dioxide and over 33 tons of nitrous oxide, one of the principal greenhouse gasses. The net clean energy benefits of the system equates to the environmental benefits of 170 acres of mature trees.