Pacers detail fieldhouse recycling effort

INDIANAPOLIS (Inside INdiana Business) — Pacers Sports & Entertainment has announced a partnership with Indianapolis-based RecycleForce to reduce waste as more than 12,000 seats are removed from Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The organization says the seats will be converted into raw materials for manufacturing in an effort to keep more than 76,000 pounds of plastic and steel out of Indiana landfills.

The seats are being removed as part the Fieldhouse of the Future renovation project at Bankers Life. Under the partnership with RecycleForce, nearly 3,800 seats from the venue’s Krieg DeVault level will be converted, with 33,000 pounds being turned into plastic and another 43,000 pounds converted to steel.

PS&E says the steel will be shredded and sent to an Indiana-based steel smelter to be made into rebar or sheet steel. The plastic will be converted into more than 3,000 gallons of ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel and naptha blend stocks, as well as more than 1,000 gallons of wax.

As renovations at the fieldhouse continue, an additional 8,700 seats from the venue’s balcony level will also be repurposed by RecycleForce.

“Just as the Fieldhouse of the Future will give new generations of fans world-class experiences for years to come, the project also presents us with an opportunity to creatively reduce waste and double-down on our commitment to care for our environment,” said Rick Fuson, president and chief operating officer of Pacers Sports & Entertainment. “RecycleForce plays such an important role in our community, both in championing sustainability and reducing recidivism, and we are proud to work alongside them to keep tens of thousands of pounds of materials out of Indiana’s landfills.”

RecycleForce is a nonprofit in Indy that, in addition to recycling services, provides a program for formerly incarcerated individuals looking to get back into society through education, training and counseling.