As the World Cup plays out in Miami over the next month, matches in Miami Gardens could generate a stadium-sized deluge of plastic bottles, cups and other utensils.
With no plans to curb plastic that Hard Rock Stadium officials usually try to limit, games played at the venue as part of the summer tournament could produce twice the amount normally flowing from the stadium, ocean conservation nonprofit Oceana estimates.
Even more could come from fans who will be allowed to bring water, but only in sealed plastic bottles — a decision made just days before the opening match.
(Miami-Dade County Department of Emergency Management.)
Fans line up for free water at a Miami-Dade County watering station at opening day of the Miami World Cup soccer match on Monday.
”Events like these create just such a tremendous amount of plastic waste,” said Hunter Miller, deputy field director for Oceana's U.S. field team. “The responsible thing to do is to find ways that we can experience these events, but also have more sustainability.”
Officials neither from FIFA, soccer's world governing body, or Coke, the official soft drink vendor for the Miami matches, responded to requests for comment.
The waste produced by these mega-sized events can be enormous. A 2024 study reported a typical Super Bowl, played on a single day, can produce 40 tons of waste, with plastic cups and plates dominating trash piles. In 2018, the United Nations estimated a single sporting event can generate up to 750,000 plastic water bottles.
Seven matches are scheduled to be played at the Hard Rock Stadium, which has been renamed Miami Stadium for the duration of the World Cup.
FIFA stadium rules originally allowed fans to bring re-usable water bottles to matches. But on June 5, FIFA officials backtracked over safety concerns, saying no hard-sided bottles would be permitted. Outside the stadium, Miami-Dade County has installed two water trailers with eight stations that provide free water and cups.
While FIFA has committed to reducing half its greenhouse emissions by 2030, even encouraging stadiums to become LEED-certified to help achieve the goal, in reality those goals can get tossed aside at match time.
Managing plastic pollution
Since 2019, Hard Rock Stadium, which can seat more than 65,000, has tried to manage plastic pollution at Dolphin football games and annual Formula 1 racing events with an aggressive program to reduce single-use plastics. When Hard Rock hosted the Super Bowl in 2020, it ditched plastic for aluminum and cardboard, eliminating about 2.7 million plastic items. Paper recyclable cups are provided at water stations around the stadium. About 4,300 tons of waste are diverted from landfills annually, the Dolphins claim.
“If we can do it at Hard Rock Stadium, with all the events we have here including the Super Bowl, then there is no reason why others can’t do the same,” Tom Garfinkel, president and CEO of the Miami Dolphins and Hard Rock Stadium told the Miami Herald at the time.
Meanwhile in 2021, Miami-Dade County created a voluntary Plastic Free-305 program for businesses and in 2024 banned single-use plastics at county facilities, including Miami International Airport.
In advance of the World Cup, Miller said Oceana reached out to FIFA to encourage more recycling.
“T here were extensive talks about reducing single-use plastic,” he said.
In Vancouver, he said, where local stadium officials had a similar recycling program, Oceana urged FIFA would to maintain the plan. Instead, he said, the organization instead opted for disposable aluminum cups.
At Hard Rock, FIFA officials also shelved plans that included providing recyclable cups at water stations throughout the stadium. FIFA’s decision this month to ban reusable water bottles over safety concerns in favor of plastic bottles seemed contradictory, Oceana officials said, renewing their calls for soccer’s governing body to provide re-usable cups at watering stations.
”As the public, we are demanding better policies, so you're seeing great things like the Hard Rock Stadium adopting these sustainability policies because people want them, because we know about these larger issues,” he said, referring to worrisome research documenting microplastics in humans. “With the world’s eyes on [the] U.S. this summer, this is a huge missed opportunity.”
This story was produced by WLRN, South Florida’s only public radio station at 91.3 FM, as part of a content-sharing partnership with The Biscayne Times. Read more at WLRN.org.