“All For One, One For All” is the Cleveland Cavaliers’ team motto, and this credo, inspired by the “Three Musketeers’” maxim, is manifested in a trio of ways: on the court, in their facility, and in their community. While the team approach is evident in how the Cavs play, it also has been successfully realized in their sustainability-minded operations and community outreach projects.
For over a decade, the team has implemented several eco-focused programs inside its home, the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
“We strive to create a sustainable and environmentally equitable venue through improving current protocols while evaluating new processes that will help us raise our sustainability ceiling,” Michael Lathrop, the Cavaliers/Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse’s senior manager of venue projects, explained on the venue’s website. “We aim to put ourselves into a position that allows us to be civic leaders in this space.”
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In the early 2010s, the FieldHouse launched several recycling initiatives, starting with “The Clean Plate Club,” which transformed almost all its concessionaires’ food waste into nutrient-packed compost and mulch. The building’s concession stands also have been stocked with biodegradable corn plastic cups and sugarcane-based plates and bowls.
More recently, the arena upgraded its recycling system, simplifying the process to include sorting at the collection points, decreasing recycling contamination opportunities, and improving collection bin locations. As a result, the venue increased its diversion rate by more than 70%.
During the 2022 season, the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse said it composted more than 8,000 pounds of food waste that was distributed to local cities, golf courses, landscaping firms, and area park systems, which can be used in community gardens. On average, the venue composted around 12,000 pounds a month and recycled more than 25,000 pounds of material monthly. That season, the team also recycled nearly 5,200 pounds of batteries and light fixtures and more than 3,800 pounds of electronics, along with donating 15,500 pounds of durable goods to Habitat for Humanity.
Photo Courtesy Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse
The Cavaliers’ sustainability work has permeated all areas of the FieldHouse’s daily management. “We’re always looking for opportunities to make our operations a little greener,” Lathrop explained in an Emerald Built Environments blog post.
Cleaning supplies, for example, are almost entirely green-sensitive, and reusable, eco-friendly microfiber towels are utilized instead of paper towels.
A KOLO smart restroom monitoring system further reduces paper waste. Similarly, motion sensors automatically turn off lights, lowering electricity consumption throughout the arena.
Long a member of the Green Sports Alliance, the Cavaliers first started participating in NBA Green Week in 2011, which featured several special events, including hosting two Sustainability Awareness Nights games and honoring students for their sustainability projects. The following year, the team partnered with Soles4Soles during Green Week to collect old shoes that would then be recycled.
Photo Courtesy Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse
In 2013, the Cavaliers started a season-long “Trees For Threes” campaign, with the team donating a tree for every three-pointers a Cavs player made at home games. That first season, 291 trees were planted, and the players surpassed that number of three-pointers before the midway point of the 2023–24 season.
Adding to northeastern Ohio’s tree population is significant because the area has a low level of tree canopy coverage (at under 20%) and loses nearly 100 acres of tree canopy annually. Urban forests are important for multiple reasons, from absorbing harmful gasses, like nitrogen oxide, to lowering erosion and reducing the amount of rainwater reaching storm drains.
Besides the ongoing “Trees For Threes” campaign, the Cavaliers also have several other “performance-based” community programs.
“Assists for a Cause” contributes $10 to a Cleveland area nonprofit for every assist racked up at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse by either a Cavalier or a Lake Erie Monsters minor league hockey player. Approximately $125,000 has been donated to various local organizations.
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The Cavaliers and the FieldHouse have also been very active in combating food insecurity in northeastern Ohio. Since the rise of COVID-19, the arena has donated more than 3,000 pounds of food to the Greater Cleveland Food Bank, and the Cavs Community Markets provided thousands of pounds of food to more than 2,000 families in a half-dozen Cleveland neighborhoods.
Throughout the 2023–24 season, the team hosts Cavs Food Drive games where fans can donate non-perishable foods and canned goods into bins at all FieldHouse entrances. The club also has partnered with the regional grocery store chain Giant Eagle, which donates $25 to the Cleveland Food Bank for every Cavs made free throw at home games.
“One of our organizational philosophies (we call them ISMs) is to ‘Do the Right Thing,’ which encompasses a way of doing business that focuses on our responsibility to be responsible,” Lathrop explained in an Emerald Built Environments blog post. “We are conscientious in making decisions and developing initiatives and practices that positively impact all of our stakeholders, employees, fans, and our community, as well as our environment.”
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