Super Bowl Sustainability Facts and Statistics
The Super Bowl is bigger and better than any football game on earth, from the number of viewers to its legendary halftime show. That also extends to the amount of trash it produces. An average NFL game generates between 30 and 40 tons of solid waste – it almost doubles to 60 tons of trash for the Super Bowl.
Tens of thousands of hot dogs are eaten and hundreds of thousands of beers are drunk inside the stadium. Their wrappers and cups soon become trash. More than 100 million people watch at home and have parties that also create mountains of waste from food, drink, and decorations.
Awareness and action around sustainability at the Super Bowl is growing though with more being done to reduce its environmental impact. Kick off with these facts and statistics about Super Bowl sustainability and then take a punt on hosting a low-waste Super Bowl party with our tips.

Super Bowl trash facts
The Super Bowl produces up to 160,000 pounds of trash, which is double the amount of an average NFL game. That’s just from inside and around the stadium – viewers watching at home, in bars, and at parties create even more waste during their celebrations (and commiserations for fans of the defeated team).
Food, drink, and all the packaging that comes with it are the main sources of garbage associated with the Super Bowl. For example, one in seven Americans order takeout on Super Sunday (and about 60% of these are pizzas). Leftovers, greasy pizza boxes, and dips can all end up in the trash.
Touch down with some more Super Bowl trash facts and statistics:
- Around 2,000 tons of food waste is generated at Super Bowl parties
- At Super Bowl LVII in 2023, an impressive 92.6% of trash was diverted away from landfills
- The other 10% or so was sent to a waste-to-energy incineration plant where it was burned to create electricity
- In 2024 at Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas, around 12,000 pounds of food waste was collected and donated to local livestock farms and used to feed the animals
- Americans get through loads of food and drink on Super Sunday that create waste:
- 1.25 billion chicken wings – all those bones get thrown away
- 325 million gallons of beer – equivalent to 50 million cases and millions of aluminum cans
- 19 million pounds of chips – 11 million potato chips and 8 million tortilla chips
- 8 million pounds of guacamole – millions of plastic tubs got to trash
- 4 million pounds of popcorn – the bags and packaging become garbage
Super Bowl energy facts
Major sports leagues including the NFL and the NBA are estimated to generate around 35,000 tonnes of CO2 annually. This includes everything from waste to travel to the events by fans. For example, at Super Bowl LVIII in 2024 more than a thousand private jets flew into Las Vegas just for the game.
Powering the Super Bowl requires a lot of energy. Just think about all the electricity needed for the commercials, the halftime show, and to light up the big screens in homes and bars across the country. These are a few facts behind the Super Bowl’s energy usage:
- Watching the Super Bowl results in the consumption of over 11 million kilowatt-hours of energy, according to General Electric
- Super Bowl advertising produced as much carbon dioxide as 100,000 Americans and about two million tons of CO2 in 2021
- Sustainability was a focus for Super Bowl LVIII in 2024 as 621,000 solar panels in the Nevada desert provided 100% of power to the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas

How to have a low-waste
Super Bowl party
Super Bowl parties generate around 2,000 tons of food waste every year, as well as all the packaging and other garbage thrown away after the celebrations. A bit of planning and easy actions can help reduce your environmental impact and ensure everyone enjoys the Super Bowl sustainably if you’re having friends and family round.
Use these tips to host a low-waste Super Bowl party this year:
- Plan ahead – base your catering on the number of people invited to your Super Bowl party to reduce the amount of potential food waste. Check what food and drink guests are bringing to avoid overordering and ending up with loads of leftovers. It also helps ensure you’ve got enough cups, glasses, plates, and cutlery so you don’t have to buy any single-use plastic items.
- Cook your own food – homemade cooking significantly reduces food packaging waste and allows good portion control. Fire up the BBQ or get the pizza oven going. Any leftovers can be reused later in the week or added to a compost pile. Plus, cooking at home reduces carbon emissions compared to ordering takeout.
- Eco-friendly decorations – don’t buy the cheap plastic Super Bowl tat from stores that get used once and then thrown in the trash. Use any football gear like helmets, jerseys, and footballs you’ve already got and place them around your home to boost the atmosphere.
- Avoid single-use items – use your own cutlery, plates, cups, tablecloths, bowls, and other items rather than forking out for single-use plastic ones that are hard to recycle.
- Encourage car shares – help arrange any car pools depending on who’s coming to your party. This reduces emissions and also makes parking easier if space is limited.
- Watch together – it may be tempting to have a TV for the kids in one room, one in the kitchen, and another in the lounge but this triples your electricity consumption. Watch together on one screen for efficiency and fun!

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