Okapi Environmental Services Achieves a 99.7% Waste Diversion Rate at the 2026 Green Sports Alliance Summit
At the 2026 Green Sports Alliance Summit, Okapi Environmental Services (Okapi), the Summit’s Zero Waste Sponsor, engineered the waste diversion strategy and coordinated with the Green Sports Alliance, Denali, r.World, Max-R, Delaware North, Progressive Field, Levy Restaurants, and Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland to achieve a 99.7% waste diversion rate.
The Green Sports Alliance (Alliance) prioritizes stewardship, transparency, inclusivity, and integrity across the full event lifecycle. As a nonprofit leader in the sports and entertainment sector, the Alliance strives to model best-in-class sustainability in its own operations while catalyzing impact industry-wide, serving as a guiding force for members and partners. The Alliance does not maintain a singular location for its events and operations; thus, it relies on collaboration with sustainability solutions organizations to implement event-specific enhancements to meet environmental goals at host sites.
Months before the Summit began, Okapi worked alongside venue partners, service providers, and event stakeholders to design a comprehensive diversion strategy that prioritized composting, recycling, reuse, donation recovery, and contamination prevention across multiple venues and waste streams.
Throughout the 2026 Green Sports Alliance Summit, Okapi led diversion efforts and oversaw waste sorting operations at the opening night networking reception hosted at Progressive Field, as well as breakfasts and lunches held at the Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland. Okapi also developed customized collection systems, coordinated staff training efforts, and implemented attendee engagement programs designed to maximize material recovery and support accurate diversion reporting.
From diverting materials behind the scenes to providing live waste data tracking through the Green Sports Alliance Summit Dashboard, this Summit demonstrated how impactful sustainability programs can become when attendees are actively engaged in the process. Alongside custom signage throughout the convention center, Okapi’s “Refuse-ree” sustainability ambassadors helped guests properly sort materials across recycling and compost streams.
Attendees interacted with Okapi’s live diversion tracking experience and followed the Summit’s sustainability impact in real time.
In total, 1,942.2 pounds of waste were diverted from landfill. Okapi handled 266 pounds of food waste, 625.5 pounds of mixed recycling, and 173 pounds of donations to local organizations. The remaining 878 pounds of waste were diverted through the use of reusable service ware provided by r.World.
The Summit and Okapi demonstrated how strategic planning, stakeholder coordination, staff training, attendee engagement, and real-time reporting can transform event operations and deliver measurable environmental outcomes at scale.
About Okapi Environmental Services, LLC
Okapi Environmental Services, LLC (OES) is a management company with a consulting arm that provides full service, turnkey consulting with real-world experience that drives sustainability growth for organizations that need a partner to help move more strategically and at a faster pace. Going beyond traditional assistance, OES innovates, collaborates, and takes a leadership role to promote sustainable advancement.
About Green Sports Alliance
Green Sports Alliance leverages the cultural and market influence of sports to promote healthy, sustainable communities where we live, work, and play.