LA Rams, USC announce plans to reduce trash at LA Coliseum

EXPOSITION PARK, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- As the Los Angeles Rams gear up to play at the fabled Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the team and the University of Southern California announced efforts to protect the environment.

After every football game, officials said they generate 7-10 tons of trash in the stands or in cans, and they want to make sure none of it is up in the landfill.

The current capacity in the coliseum is more than 90,000 people. With the Rams now playing home games there for the next couple of years, the trash issue is expected to be a bigger concern.

As a result, city and stadium officials plan to move to a zero-waste program.

The coliseum will start using different types of food packaging that will be entirely recyclable. The trash company will be taking the load of roughly 10 tons of garbage each game and making sure the different types of trash will be processed correctly.

"We will take the mixed waste to a plant, remove everything usable out of that waste, then we process it with machines and people," said Gary Clifford, executive vice president of Athens Services.

Clifford added that they will take everything out that can be reused and anything left over will be taken to an energy plant.

The zero-waste program will be more expensive, but officials said it should not have an effect on ticket prices.

For now, the plan is a pilot program that will only happen with the L.A. Rams games, but officials said they hope to expand it soon.