Sustainability Mission: Wellington Regional Stadium

“We’re aligned with the Greater Wellington Regional Council’s ‘carbon zero by 2030’ goal,” says Hamish Allen, Wellington Regional Stadium’s Operations Manager. “We’re working towards that through waste minimisation, energy reduction, water reduction and supporting sustainable transport.”
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Most notable of the stadium’s forthcoming green initiatives is a massive lighting system upgrade which will see the installation of more than 6,000 energy-efficient LED lights throughout the venue.
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When complete, the new lights will require significantly less electricity than the old system (and are expected to last a lot longer too), reducing power consumption by about 51 kWh per year, and saving about NZ$93k per year, thanks to both lower energy consumption and lower maintenance needs.
 

All up, that translates to a reduction of about 61 tonnes of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions per annum.

The stadium’s tower lights have also been upgraded to LEDs, significantly cutting peak electricity demand.

Waste diversion has been a key area of focus for the Wellington icon. By leaning into compostable packaging options and local plastic recycling, the stadium has radically reduced the amount of waste it sends to landfill over the last several years. For example, 43% of waste was diverted from landfill at the 2017 Guns N’ Roses concert - by their 2022 show that number had risen to 80%.

The secret to such outstanding eco-success? The right ecosystem, says Allen.
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“Partnerships are one of the most important things in the sustainability space,” says Allen. “Trying to do it all on your own is impossible.”

“We work with resource recovery providers throughout the region, from partners like Remarkit who do all of our e-waste, to McMud, who take away the soil when we do turf replacements, to our partner in Palmerston North who handles all of our hard to recycle plastics.”

“We’ve got a very wide range of partners, providers and neighbours, and we’re all working together with a Wellington-wide view of sustainability, rather than just working away in our silos.”

And there’s more on the horizon. The stadium is in the process of finalising funding for a wash/reusable serveware station, there are plans being made to switch from gas cooking and heating to electric, and research is underway into on-site energy production.  

“Right now we’re looking at opportunities for solar energy generation in our corner of the city,” says Allen. “That will require partnerships too. It might mean partnering with someone like CentrePort, partnering with freight companies, or other neighbours and large businesses that can generate and share energy with us.”

“It’s still very early days, but we’re working together to make it happen.”

Watch this space.

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