Twins composted 300 tons of service ware

After turning 300 tons of trash into fertile soil last year, the Minnesota Twins and Eco-Products, Boulder, Colorado, plan to top that number this year, the organizations said.

With the help of fans, hundreds of thousands of beer cups, plates and nacho trays at Target Field were converted to compost last year. They are made by Eco-Products.

“Our fans should be proud of all they’re doing to make Target Field the greenest ballpark in America,” said Jase Miller, the Twins’ manager of ballpark operations. “Together we’ve kept hundreds of tons of trash out of local landfills. That’s a huge win not just for Target Field, but for the whole community.”

Much of the Eco-Products packaging relies on a material called Ingeo, a compostable resin made by NatureWorks, Minnetonka, Minnesota.

At Target Field, all plastic bottles and aluminum can be recycled, while all other concessions-related products can be composted. The stadium has bins for the compostable materials set up around the stadium, side-by-side with recycling bins.

After each game, stadium workers empty the compost bins and the material is taken to a commercial composting facility. There the stadium’s trash is turned into organic materials such as soil for area farms, gardens and landscapers.