January 21, 2025 • 39 mins
In our first episode of 2025, we discuss sports and sustainability with Danielle Doza, the Cleveland Cavaliers' Vice President of Sustainability and Environmental Services. As the first executive-level professional in the NBA, Danielle shares how the CAVS organization integrates award-winning eco-friendly practices in fresh and exciting new ways and the collaborative spirit driving sustainability within sports organizations.
Join us as Danielle speaks about her dream job and key initiatives at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. These initiatives, including recycling, energy efficiency, education, and various partnerships with WM, Found Surface, and the Green Sports Alliance, drive sustainability in the sports industry.
Finally, Danielle offers valuable career advice for aspiring sustainability professionals in our tip time. This episode is a must-listen for anyone eager to see sustainability thrive in sports.
Guest:
Danielle Doza, Vice President of Sustainability and Environmental Services with Cleveland Cavaliers (Rock Entertainment Group)
Learn More:
CAVS sustainability initiatives
Partnership with Waste Management (WM)
Green Sports Alliance
GOAL (Green Operations and Advanced Leadership)
5 Tool Sports Group (sustainability toolkit for sports)
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Diane Bickett (00:04):
You're listening to EcoSpeak CLE, a podcast for
the eco curious in NortheastOhio.
My name is Diane Bickett and myproducer is Greg Rotuno.
Together, we speak with localsustainability leaders and
invite you to connect, learn andlive with our community and
planet in mind.
Hello friends, happy New Year.
Did you make some resolutionsthis year?
(00:25):
Are you sticking to them?
Well, I gave up on dry Januaryweeks ago, but I'm still
resolved to staying positivethis year by trying some new
things, meeting new people andmaking time for friends and fun,
and, of course, that meanscontinuing to bring you this
podcast, which is full ofpositivity, friends and fun.
So here we are with our firstepisode of 2025.
(00:49):
And we're here with my friend,danielle Doza, who is joining us
.
Danielle is a number one fan ofthe pod, that's right, which
she says all the time when shecan, and she is living her dream
job as the Vice President ofSustainability and Environmental
Services for the ClevelandCavaliers.
Please stay with us as Danielleshares all about her position,
(01:11):
how she got it, the greeninitiative she's implementing,
how sports teams are embracingsustainability and the broader
impact this is having.
Welcome, danielle, thanks forhaving me.
I'm excited to chat today.
Yeah, would you like to shareany New Year resolutions.
Danielle Doza (01:28):
Ooh, that's tough .
I don't do New Year'sresolutions because it's hard,
but what I like to do is amonthly challenge.
So this month is trying not tobuy anything unnecessary.
Now, of course you got to buygroceries or things for the dogs
.
Some months I'm going to read afew pages of a book every day,
(01:52):
or one month, it's okay.
We're going to take a walkoutside every single day.
We did that one in January afew years ago, so that was
definitely a challenge, but it'sa little more manageable to do
these monthly challenges.
Diane Bickett (02:04):
Yeah, it breaks it down.
Manageable to do these monthlychallenges.
Yeah, it breaks it down.
Those sound like some healthyresolutions.
Greg Rotuno (02:10):
So my other resolution which I didn't
mention is to.
I got to stop buying stuff offof like Instagram ads.
It's such a waste of money, allright.
Diane Bickett (02:20):
So I understand that you are the first executive
level sustainabilityprofessional in the NBA?
Yes, that sounds really cool.
Danielle Doza (02:29):
Yes, it is really cool.
Diane Bickett (02:31):
And I think it's also some impressive leadership
on the part of the Cavsorganization.
You've been there for a littleover a year now.
Congratulations.
Danielle Doza (02:51):
How did this position come about?
Our organization joined thisinitiative called GOAL Green
Operations and AdvancedLeadership in the fall of 2022
as more of a commitment tosustainability and worked with
the folks from GOAL to develop afull-time position.
So the organization had beendoing some small sustainability
things, composting back of house.
There was an internalsustainability committee, which
(03:12):
we call the sustainability squad, and they wanted to bring
someone in who had aprofessional background and
expertise to develop and leadstrategy throughout the
organization and do something abit bigger.
So they made the decision tomake a full-time position,
intentionally made it at thatsenior level, which is really a
(03:34):
testament to the investment ofthe organization into
sustainability.
That says yes, we want toinvest in this, we want to lead
on this, which is reallyexciting, and so it's.
It's been a ton of fun for alittle over a year, but that's
how it came about and I waslucky enough to just get
connected to the organization,apply, go through that process
(03:56):
and get this, this amazing job.
Diane Bickett (03:59):
I mean I feel incredibly lucky to have this
position and get to do what I doincredibly lucky to have this
position and get to do what I do, yeah, and you've always kind
of referred to it as your dreamjob, and I think all your
experience has kind of led up tothis too, because your
background I mentioned.
You have a law degree, but youwere a corporate sustainability
consultant.
You worked in a nonprofit withVictoria Avery at Venture
(04:23):
Forward Strategies.
That wasn't, that's notnonprofit.
Danielle Doza (04:27):
No, no, no that was yeah, that was just a that
was a small consulting firm.
Yeah, worked mostly withmanufacturing consumer product
companies on sustainabilitystrategy and reporting, and it
was a really valuable experienceto have that and be able to
bring that into thisorganization just to understand,
okay, this is how othercompanies work and approach
(04:49):
sustainability and bring some ofthose skills into this role in
this organization, even thoughit's very different type of
company, but a lot of it's thebasics.
You know, you've talked to alot of sustainability
professionals.
Of course, when you think aboutyou got a big building, you're
going to create a lot of waste.
You got to focus on that.
You got to think about yourmaterials, your energy, all that
(05:11):
good stuff.
So it was, yeah, very valuable.
And I have a bit of a sportsbackground, just one being a fan
, played sports growing up,played rugby in college, I
coached high school for fiveyears.
Sports growing up, played rugbyin college, I coached high
school for five years.
So I've long been following thesports and sustainability space
and it was just really luckythat this position was local my
(05:34):
hometown, my hometown team.
Diane Bickett (05:35):
Yeah, love it, love it.
Well, they were smart to hireyou, and I also should mention
that Danielle is our co-plannerfor our EcoMeet CLE events which
we've been doing for the lastfew years, in which we got to
get cracking on planning for thenext one.
Danielle Doza (05:51):
One thing at a time.
Stay tuned.
One thing at a time.
Diane Bickett (05:55):
So what has been your focus at the CAVS
organization since you startedand what is your day-to-day like
Day-to-day?
Danielle Doza (06:03):
is different.
Diane Bickett (06:04):
Different every day.
Yeah.
Danielle Doza (06:05):
Yeah, so it's always hard to explain, but I
sit on the facility operationsteam so I heavily focus on the
management of the facility whenit comes to sustainability.
So what we're doing is lookingat all of the materials within
the organization, rightmaterials management.
(06:26):
Everything that comes into ourbuilding has to leave our
building.
So how do we better understandwhat all of that is and how do
we better manage all of thosematerials?
By diverting more from landfill, you know, recycling,
composting, just even reducingthe amount of packaging coming
in.
But it is quite a bit, you know.
When you think of a sportsorganization like ours, it's all
(06:48):
kinds of food and beverageproducts.
We have, of course, officeproducts.
We have over 500 full-time teammembers who work at the arena.
Our offices are there.
So that procurement, supplychain side of things, we have a
whole retail team.
All of our retail is in-house,which is, I guess, not the norm
(07:11):
within a lot of other sportsorganizations.
So everything we do is in-house.
Our retail team is incredible.
That's also a lot of packagingcoming in.
So we think about that.
So we are in the process ofjust trying to evaluate all that
.
And, okay, how might we talkwith suppliers to reduce the
amount of packaging coming in.
Yeah, and you see that with alot of other companies.
(07:32):
Yeah, you know how do you justreduce that material.
So that's a big part of it.
I work closely with thehousekeeping team on the waste
management side of things, youknow, trying to reduce waste to
landfill.
We will be building out more ofan education program,
especially around wasteinternally.
And then energy is, of course,a big one.
(07:55):
Right, we have a large building.
We use a lot of energy, so howdo we think about our energy
usage more?
Invest in some conservation andefficiency?
We did do an energy audit overlast summer and that gave us an
idea of how we can invest insome more efficiency measures.
But it's tough in the sportsindustry when you think of
(08:17):
energy.
Yeah, the Cavs game and all theflashing lights, Exactly yeah
yeah, right, you know we'rethere to put on a show the fire
shooting, the fire shooting.
Yeah, yeah, right, you knowwe're there to put on a show the
fire shooting, the fireshooting.
Yeah.
And every time that goes offI'm like oh, it's our.
You know, propane scope oneemissions.
Greg Rotuno (08:32):
But you need to offset those somehow.
The good news is that it's allinside.
Danielle Doza (08:38):
So it's yeah, we want to put on a good show and
also we want to make peoplecomfortable, right?
You want a comfortabletemperature and when you have
20,000 people in the building,that can be tough to do, so it's
just the nature of the business, if you will.
So you know how do we do thatbetter.
(08:58):
And our building is 30 yearsold.
Rocket Mortgage Fieldhousecelebrates 30 years this season.
Years old Rocket MortgageFieldhouse celebrates 30 years
this season.
So we have to work with anolder building that maybe wasn't
designed with efficiency inmind.
There were absolutely efficiencyupgrades with the
transformation in 2019, withHVAC systems and all that stuff.
(09:19):
Our ice plant was upgraded, sowe do have the Cleveland
Monsters hockey team that playsthere.
That ice lives there all seasonlong.
It is just underneath thebasketball court.
Before, the ice plant was justessentially one giant unit.
It was either on or off, so youhad to keep it on for the ice.
(09:40):
Now it's six smaller units andit uses CO2.
So it's a much safer unit aswell.
So we can have as many as sixon if we need them, or as few as
one unit on to maintain the ice, so it's much more efficient
that way.
So, yeah, energy is just a bigone.
(10:01):
Any plans for renewables?
Not quite yet.
I'm not quite there.
So we, what you know, what weare going to do is look at
energy more holistically overtime.
But we are working on thoseplans and I hope to share more
in the near future.
But you know we're going toconsider every option.
(10:21):
Yeah, we're going to considerevery option that's going to be
best for us and you know I'lljump ahead, I guess.
And a lot of people ask whydon't you put solar panels on
the roof?
Well, the roof is curved.
So it is not a it's, not it'sjust not a great roof to put a
bunch of solar panels on top of.
So that's one tough part.
It would be prohibitivelyexpensive to do something like
(10:45):
that.
Diane Bickett (10:50):
But there are other options that we're
absolutely going to consider inthe future.
Maybe you can tap into thecounty's microgrid somehow.
Greg Rotuno (10:54):
I was going to say you could turn Evan Mobley and
Jared Allen into windmills.
Danielle Doza (10:57):
Right, we absolutely should.
I don't know Greg's here forthe sports references in this
episode, because I know nothing.
I don't even know who thosepeople are.
I like your idea better.
Diane Bickett (11:11):
So your job kind of you cross-populate or
pollinate between the venueitself, which is owned by
Gateway right, and which isowned by Gateway right, but then
your ultimate employer it's theCavs, but it's the you
mentioned it earlier.
Danielle Doza (11:31):
So Rock Entertainment.
Diane Bickett (11:32):
Group Rock Entertainment Group.
Okay, explain that wholestructure.
Danielle Doza (11:35):
Yeah, yes, the building is owned by Gateway,
which is essentially an entityof Cuyahoga County in the city
of Cleveland.
We are the only tenant of thatbuilding, so we do all of the
operations, maintenance,everything within that building
(11:55):
is our organization.
I see, yes, so we're the onlypeople in there.
We do everything.
It's all our organization, butour, you know, rock
Entertainment Group is theoverall entertainment side of
things.
We host a lot of concerts,corporate events, any other type
of event there.
Of course, we've got basketballand hockey, and then our like I
(12:19):
mentioned, our offices arethere as well.
So all of that happens withinthe arena and that's all under
our purview as one organization.
Diane Bickett (12:28):
Okay, Thanks for explaining that it's not just
the basketball team that youwork for.
So you've recently gotten somerecognition by that organization
that you mentioned earliercalled GOAL, which is Green
Operations and AdvancedLeadership.
So the CAVS and the RocketMortgage Fieldhouse
(12:48):
sustainability efforts have beennationally recognized.
I understand you've gotteneight GOAL medals for your
efforts in waste reduction,health and wellness, diversity
and inclusion, esg strategy andcommitment and sustainable
partnerships.
Danielle Doza (13:05):
Yes,
Diane Bickett (13:06):
which one of those do you want to talk about?
Danielle Doza (13:09):
I will say, all of those medals just speak to
the work of our wholeorganization and the culture and
values ingrained in ourorganization.
So you know the health andwellness side of things.
We have someone on staff who'sdedicated just to the wellness
of our team members, so wereally focus on that side of
(13:30):
things.
You know, our social impact andequity team, I think, has 12
team members on it, which is oneof the biggest social impact
teams within the league, andwe've been doing social impact
community work for years andhave developed really deep
relationships with organizationsthroughout the community.
So sustainability was a naturalextension of all of that work.
(13:54):
You know, like I think Imentioned, composting was
started a few years ago, beforeI even got there right, so we
were able to speak to that work.
Diane Bickett (14:02):
And the local food purchasing through your
food vendor goes way back too.
Danielle Doza (14:06):
Exactly so.
A lot of this work was beingdone.
There was sustainability there.
Right now we're just going toexpand that and develop more of
a comprehensive strategy, whichis in the works right now.
So just a big shout out to ourwhole team for all of the work
they do every day, and we'recertainly going to apply for
(14:27):
more medals, so hopefully I cancome back next year we talk
about more recognition.
Diane Bickett (14:30):
Okay, good, you mentioned your team members.
Are you drawing from thefacilities team?
Are you drawing from themanagement?
You know a good green team haseverybody.
Are any of your playersinvolved with some of your
initiatives?
Danielle Doza (14:47):
The players, not on the athletic side of things
at this time.
However, our sustainabilitysquad is about 20 team members
from across the company squad isabout 20 team members from
across the company and anywherefrom you know, housekeeping,
(15:08):
procurement, social impact,communications, our partnerships
team, so it's people can cometogether and they provide some
input on whether it's ourstrategy ideas or volunteer
ideas, or they're also thosechampions that you know take
sustainability back to theirteam and work on integrating
sustainability throughout them.
But our co-chair of thesustainability squad is our
senior director of procurementservices.
(15:28):
So I work closely with ourprocurement team as well, which
is really exciting, becausethat's a huge part of
sustainability, you know, isyour vendors, your suppliers
looking at that.
So it's nice to see folksengaged, you know.
And then every time we bring onnew team members, they go
through an orientation and theyhear about sustainability.
(15:49):
So if someone's coming in newto the organization, they have
the opportunity to hear aboutsustainability or get involved.
But, as I mentioned, there's,you know, team members across
our organization working on itin some way, because I have the
you know, the fun job of gettingto work with all these other
teams within our organization.
So it's just, it's pretty cooljust to see people really lean
(16:12):
in and be engaged.
And you know, I get messagesall the time about, hey, I've
got this idea, or you know thispotential partner, or hey, is
there a recycling outlet forthis?
So people, you know more andmore people are really starting
to think about it, which ispretty cool.
Diane Bickett (16:29):
Yeah, and knowing you, I'm sure I mean you're
very approachable and you'reinspiring, so I'm sure everyone
loves to help contribute to theeffort.
Yes, let's talk a little bitabout some of your partnerships
that are new this year.
Danielle Doza (16:44):
Yes, we are really working on aligning more
partnerships with sustainability, and when I say partnerships, I
mean a corporate partner.
You know, when you come to agame you're going to see
marketing all around.
It's some company's logo,whether it's on the Humongotron
or Sideboards.
Diane Bickett (17:02):
Is that what you call it, the Humongotron?
Danielle Doza (17:04):
Yes, it's called the Humongotron.
Greg Rotuno (17:07):
Have you been there ?
Diane Bickett (17:08):
I have.
Danielle invited me last yearto go to the Monsters game when
it was Sustainability Night.
It was my first and only hockeygame.
It was my first and only hockeygame.
It was fun.
We'll get you back out.
Greg Rotuno (17:18):
Yeah, gotta get to a Cavs game.
Danielle Doza (17:19):
Oh yeah, yeah yeah, we'll get you to a Cavs
game.
Yes, you can see that largehumongotron.
Um so, uh, where was I going?
Diane Bickett (17:28):
with this.
Danielle Doza (17:28):
I'm sorry I didn't know, oh, so a big
partnership we entered into thisyear is with WM, the waste
management yep waste management,the, the waste hauling company.
So they became our wastehauling provider, right, so they
come to the field house, pickup our dumpsters, haul them away
(17:51):
.
They are also a sustainabilityadvisor, as you know, in
addition to to some marketingand stuff.
So we work closely with theirsustainability advisory team.
Wm has essentially a consultingarm for sustainability and they
have a sports-specific section.
So we meet at least every otherweek with their sustainability
(18:14):
advisory team to work on, youknow, reducing waste to landfill
, how do we develop betterstandard operating procedures?
How do we develop bettereducation and training materials
for our team members?
You know, eventually we'llbuild out more around fan
education.
So they work hand in hand withus.
(18:35):
They answer lots of questions,they're helping us better track
our data around waste, sothey're just a really awesome
resource for that.
And, you know, we I don't thinkcould ask for a better
sustainability partner with that, as far as, hey, they really
want to invest in us and help us, you know, reduce our waste
(18:57):
into landfill and better manageall that, better understand our
materials, like I mentioned.
Diane Bickett (19:01):
Yeah, and that's not easy to do because with any,
how many people will go to oneCavs game, Like how many?
Danielle Doza (19:07):
thousands.
You know it is up to 19,000 ormore at, you know, say, a
playoff game or something, butwe have about 20,000 plus people
in the building for a game.
So imagine the waste createdright Just from that.
And it's people buying food andbeverage, people buying stuff
(19:29):
at, maybe at the retail shopSometimes we might have a
giveaway.
So we know waste is going to becreated.
So, again, how do we do thatmore responsibly is something
we're still working on andfiguring out, but every day
we're taking a step there.
We work closely with our foodand beverage partner, aramark,
again, to think about all ofthose food and beverage
(19:50):
materials, think about thatsourcing.
So it takes time.
That sourcing, so it takes time.
And then you know when you,when you want help.
We want people, of course, tohelp us sort the waste and
recycle right.
But how do we do that?
And it's hard to do becausepeople are there to watch a
basketball game or a hockey game.
They're not there to thinkabout recycling or
(20:10):
sustainability.
You know, unless it's me andyou or Greg at a game.
We might be thinking about it,but most people aren't.
And at the end of a game,people are rushing to get out of
there, maybe, and they justwant to, you know, throw their
stuff away, which I totallyunderstand, yeah Right.
So it is hard to.
Diane Bickett (20:28):
Especially when they lose.
Danielle Doza (20:29):
they just want to , which we don't do too often,
right?
Greg Rotuno (20:32):
Thankfully finally.
Diane Bickett (20:34):
Well, I think you have in terms of kind of
engagement for the fans.
You have a unique opportunitybecause you're reaching people
who are not part of the choiryou're.
I mean, this is the generalpublic, general public and this
is a great exposure opportunityto expose them to proper
(20:56):
recycling.
I know when you have yoursustainability nights, you are
talking about what efforts aregoing on there and how to
properly recycle, and I thinkwaste management is also trying
to make it fun because they havethe upcycled couch seat of the
game.
Danielle Doza (21:13):
I'll explain what that is yeah, yeah, the
dumpster couch.
Diane Bickett (21:17):
I want to sit on the dumpster couch if I come to
the game.
I explain what that is yeah,yeah, the the dumpster couch.
It's a.
I want to sit on the dumpstercouch if I come to the game.
Greg Rotuno (21:20):
That's basically what they call brown stadium.
Oh, no comment, that's thedumpster fire oh, I'm sorry, hey
, yes we do, you know we feature.
Danielle Doza (21:30):
We get to upgrade a, a member of the game who
gets to sit there, and they getsome other perks from that.
They get featured on theHumongotron.
So that was a.
It's a fun perk and when we'vegot WM folks on site, they love
to go up and see that as well.
So it's right, it's a fun wayto engage people.
Wm also came on site and did anactivation on the concourse
(21:53):
where they had two garbage canswith little basketball hoops on
them and kids would come up.
They had to answer recyclingquestions and if they got it
right, they got to shoot thebasket and if they won or if
they made it, they got a prize.
So trying to think about howyou engage people in fun ways,
you know.
So we're going to be testingout more of that.
(22:14):
Or, or you know, try justtrying to recognize people for
doing the right thing.
And we recently had asustainability night for the
monsters and we did somesustainability trivia Right, so
it's a fun way.
So you know, as a mom and adaughter who got to stand there
on the Humongotron and answersome fun trivia, that we a lot
(22:36):
of it.
We did about Lake Erie.
I did a brief interview just totalk about our sustainability
initiative, so trying to captureattention that way.
Diane Bickett (22:45):
How did they do?
Danielle Doza (22:47):
They did, they did pretty well it was you know
we tried to make it not too hardand then we had a recycling
shootout.
So two fans shot aluminum cansinto a recycling, can you know,
just as a way to okay, you knowpeople can think about that a
little more.
Okay, oh yeah, it's aluminum,can of course you recycle it?
So you know a recycle shootoutis just again another touch
(23:10):
point for folks.
Yeah, so hopefully they'llcarry that off the court,
exactly, yeah exactly yeah, andhopefully they'll carry that off
the court and back home.
Exactly, yeah, exactly.
Diane Bickett (23:17):
And your other partnership with an organization
called Found Surface, which isAiden Meany is a local clothing
manufacturing company.
Danielle Doza (23:28):
Tell us more about that.
Yes, this is cool, so you know.
Bringing it back to EcoMeet,Sally, we held one of our
EcoMeets about clothing, right?
Diane Bickett (23:37):
Building a circular textile economy.
Yeah, yeah.
Danielle Doza (23:41):
Yeah, so the textile economy, and he was on
that and you know we connectedthere and a while later I
started working at the Cavs andjust kept in touch and
eventually we connected with ourretail team and said, hey, you
know to our retail team, ifyou're interested, check this
out.
They immediately jumped onboard, thought it was cool.
(24:02):
We went to visit their site,their manufacturing site in
Cleveland.
So our retail team was reallyexcited about this.
So we launched a fullytraceable sweatshirt and T-shirt
as part of our city editioncollection.
So it's a collaboration with us.
Found surface in the clevelandmuseum of art and the organic
(24:26):
cotton was grown in texas, itwas milled in and died in
pennsylvania and thenmanufactured right here in
Cleveland Ohio.
So it's sustainable.
It supports the local economy.
All of these scraps from thatmanufacturing process were
composted with Rust Belt Riders,which is really cool.
(24:47):
And then I found out as wellthat Found Surface hires about
80% of their employees are fromKent State, which has its design
school, so it's a lot ofkeeping talent local.
So it was really exciting to dothat.
I have not found another teamthat has launched a traceable
(25:09):
item, at least in the UnitedStates.
I'm not going to say we're thefirst, but I'm still looking to
see if anyone else has done it,but I think it's really cool, or
at least traceable with naturalmaterials.
Diane Bickett (25:22):
Aiden's been working on this for a number of
years, going back to thepandemic in Syracuse when he was
in college, and he's come along way.
He now has a plant and he'sdoing.
What is the term for printing?
Oh, like screen printing, 3dprinting of the clothing.
(25:45):
Oh, right, right, right.
So, he's got quite a vision forbringing back clothing
manufacturing in Cleveland in areally sustainable way, so
excited to have him on the show.
Danielle Doza (25:56):
Yeah, yeah, and it was great to work with him.
Diane Bickett (25:58):
Yeah, yeah Cool.
So we can find that in the teamshop or online.
Danielle Doza (26:03):
You can't find it online, unfortunately but you
can find it on our team shop atCenter Court at the Arena or you
can find it at the shop at theCleveland Museum of Art.
They are selling it as well,which is pretty cool, well done.
Museum of.
Diane Bickett (26:16):
Art.
They are selling it as well,which is pretty cool.
Well done, very exciting.
Let's talk about sports andsustainability overall now,
because we have a couple othersports teams in Cleveland.
Back in the day I used to workwith the manager of Progressive
Field with their sustainabilityefforts and Brown Stadium like
the first grind to energy, wherethey were taking the food
(26:41):
scraps and putting them into alarge grinder and that food
waste was then taken to Quasarand that was like a waste to
energy biodigester in Collinwood.
So I know the other sports teamsare involved.
I won't ask you what thecurrent status is or anything
(27:02):
but overall I've read thatthere's various organizations
that are kind of assemblingaround this.
There's the Green SportsAlliance, there's this Play to
Zero recognition platform, thereis Green Sports Day.
Are you guys involved with allof those?
Can you talk a little bit aboutthose?
Danielle Doza (27:24):
We are members of the Green Sports Alliance and
Great Cleveland Connection.
The board president, EileenMcManaman, is a Clevelander, so
she grew up in the neighborhoodwhere I live, which is pretty
cool.
Yeah, she lives in Vancouvernow and her company, 5t Sports
(27:49):
Group, works with organizationson aligning sustainability and
partnerships.
So you know, big shout out toEileen.
So great Cleveland connectionthere.
She still has season tickets tothe Guardians and comes back to
Cleveland quite a bit, really.
Yeah.
But Green Sports Alliance is amembership group of professional
sports organizations,collegiate sports venues and
(28:11):
service providers so they canconnect their members with
potential service providers.
They do an annual summit thatfocuses all on sports and
sustainability.
They have webinars throughoutthe year that talks about
specific areas of sustainabilitywithin sports.
(28:32):
They do a reuse symposium everyyear Well, I guess the past two
years.
They'll have another one thisyear about reusables and they
also put out these playbooks.
So they have a handful on theirwebsite now and they're all
free to download aboutimplementing sustainability
within sports, whether it iscollegiate sports, even
(28:54):
grassroots sports, orprofessional sports, whether it
is collegiate sports, evengrassroots sports, or
professional sports, and theyfocus on waste, for example, or
water, or food and beverage, andI know they're working on a
couple more.
I think they came out with anenergy one recently.
They just put out a couple more, so it's a great resource if
(29:15):
people are interested in sportsand sustainability.
If you're not already followingthe Green Sports Alliance, you
should follow them on socialmedia.
Go check out that website.
Attend a webinar if you can.
There's also an organization outof the UK called Sport Positive
, which is great.
They do an annual summit aswell, but it's over in London so
(29:37):
it's, you know, not as easy toget to.
However, they put out a lot ofinformation and coverage around
sports organizations, mostly alot of professional but even
down to grassroots informationabout sustainability and sports.
They have a great newsletteryou can sign up to.
They also do a podcast and putout some episodes with
(29:59):
interviews around sports andsustainability.
That's not membership-based,that's just more of an
informational orinformation-gathering type of
organization.
There's an organization nowcalled EcoSportsPro I believe
yeah, eco Sports Pro and thatorganization also does some
(30:22):
webinars.
They have some educationalopportunities for people trying
to maybe break into sports andsustainability and they do a lot
of job postings.
That one is based in Europe,but they post jobs for a lot of
European and North Americanorganizations.
So if you're maybe looking fora job in this area, follow them
on LinkedIn or go to thatwebsite, and so that's a great
(30:47):
organization and you're startingto see more pop up.
Diane Bickett (30:50):
So, with having all these sports organizations
that are so high profile?
How is that helping to amplifysustainability issues and
general public awareness ofclimate change and other issues?
Danielle Doza (31:02):
The benefit of a sports organization is we have a
really big microphone so we canreach a lot of people, right?
You know whether it's thousandsof people coming to a game, or
you know folks following us onsocial media.
The Cavs have the fifth largestsocial media following of any
professional sports organizationin North America, which is
(31:24):
pretty cool.
So that's, you know that's alot.
Anytime we put out some sort ofsocial media posts, you know
however many people see that.
So that's the power of sport,right?
And when you think about sport,most people in the world are
connected to sport in some way,whether that's a grassroots club
(31:45):
they might play with or it'srooting on their favorite team
part of cultures all over theworld.
So people listen to theirfavorite sports team.
They trust that brand.
Right, we are a trusted brandby a lot of people.
So if we say something, peopleknow they can trust what we're
(32:08):
doing or what we're saying,right?
So that's a really big benefit.
And you know, as much as I lovea good manufacturing company
and they're doing great work.
You know they probably don'thave the reach.
Diane Bickett (32:19):
Yeah, you have a bigger microphone, and when the
Cavs win the championship thisyear, we'll have an even bigger
microphone.
That's exactly right.
Danielle Doza (32:25):
That's exactly right.
So that's just the really cool,unique thing about sports.
Or even the music industry, forexample.
You know you see big musicalartists everywhere focused on
sustainability in some way andtheir fans are going to listen
and follow that, which is reallycool.
(32:46):
So you're starting to see muchmore of a growth, of a focus on
sustainability within sports.
You know the NBA, for example,has the NBA Green Initiative.
It's their sustainabilityinitiative that's been around
for about 15 years, and we alsohave a sustainability working
(33:10):
group within the MBA.
So we meet regularly and we canchat with our counterparts at
other teams.
We can tap into the resourcesat the MBA, which is really
awesome.
So you're awesome.
So at the league level, theyare focused on that as well and
we can really engage with them.
So it's just a really coolecosystem.
(33:32):
And with sports, too, we're acompetitive bunch.
Of course, there's a lot ofcompetition in certain areas,
but when it comes tosustainability, it is very
collaborative, right?
We all know that we're onlygoing to get better if we do
things together.
We share resources, we sharethese best practices, so it's
just a really fun space to workin.
Diane Bickett (33:55):
Yeah, so you really, it is really your dream
job, you do have a dream job.
And they say you know, if youdo something you love, you never
work a day in your life.
So, on that note, I think weshould just wind up with our tip
time maybe with some careeradvice, for I know you hosted a
workshop or a meeting withcollege sustainability
(34:18):
professionals a couple monthsago.
I think I read that on LinkedIn.
Yes, what advice are you givingpeople who want to take your
job or just work in general?
Danielle Doza (34:28):
Yeah, we did a college sustainability event,
which was awesome.
It was 250 students and facultyand staff who came to Rock and
Roll Fieldhouse From NortheastOhio schools.
From Northeast Ohio, westernPennsylvania, I think.
We had a couple Columbusschools.
They came up.
For a lot of them it was theirfirst time at the arena, their
first time at a Cavs game andthey came to hear about
(34:49):
sustainability.
So we did a panel discussionwith myself, emily Keller, who's
the Director of Sustainabilityfor Greater Cleveland
Partnership, and then Sandy Reed, who is an Executive Vice
President with Davie TreeCompany, who is an executive
vice president with Davie TreeCompany, who is a incredible
partner of ours.
Davie sponsors our Trees forThrees program.
So for every three-point shotmade during the season, we have
(35:12):
a tree planted in northeast Ohioand that partnership is just
incredible.
So students got to hear aboutyou know their, their jobs, you
know what they do, what we'redoing at the field house, so
that's just a really cool event.
People are already asking whenwe're going to do that again.
But if you are thinking aboutthis, you know I mentioned the
(35:34):
EcoSports organization to followthem.
Try to connect with a localnetwork.
You know.
Come to an EcoMeet CLE event.
The network is super powerful,right?
Just think about the benefitsof the network.
Attend some webinars A lot ofwebinars for Green Sports
Alliance or other organizationsare free to attend.
(35:54):
Start reading about it andmaybe you're a college athlete
and you're listening to this.
You can engage with your ownorganization or you know your
own school.
I did a presentation tostudents from the MAC, the
Mid-American Conference, earlierthis season to talk about
sustainability because thestudents wanted to hear about it
(36:15):
, which is really cool.
So just trying to engage,whether it's your team or your
sports organization at college.
There's an organization calledEcoAthletes that athletes can
join, whether you're acollegiate athlete or up to a
professional or an Olympicathlete, and you can essentially
(36:36):
claim that you are committed tosustainability in some way and
join that organization and thenfollow along.
Just, you know, follow peopleon LinkedIn.
You know, read some coveragebecause it very much is a
growing area.
I think we're going to start tosee more professional
organizations around the worldstarting to hire more
(36:58):
sustainability-focused positions.
Diane Bickett (37:02):
Very exciting.
I'm so happy to hear that allthis is taking place and it's
just kind of growing and yeah,it's a good, positive way to
start the year.
Danielle Doza (37:12):
Yeah, and I you know I love talking about it.
I've been on some other,whether it's podcasts or
webinars, for you know you'vebeen on a lot of podcasts.
Every time I turn around, soyou know, some are US based.
What I'll say.
Some are US based, some areEuropean based, but I get to
share about what we're doing inCleveland.
(37:32):
You know, not just with theCavs, but all these cool things
we're doing in Cleveland, right?
You know we have a reallyincredible sustainability
community within Cleveland,because people ask me well, you
know, how do you get connectedto resources?
How do you figure this out?
I'm like I know a lot of peoplein the city.
I came in with the benefit ofhaving this incredible network
(37:52):
that I can reach out to forresources to help make things
happen, which is just thecoolest thing.
So Cleveland's got it going on.
Diane Bickett (38:01):
Thank you so much for being an ambassador for
Cleveland and sustainability.
Greg, do you have any otherquestions?
Greg Rotuno (38:08):
I should say you've confirmed my suspicion that the
Cavs are the best runorganization in the city by a
very large margin.
Thank you.
Danielle Doza (38:16):
Yeah, thanks for having me on.
It's been really exciting.
I hope people follow along.
So we're going to continue tobuild.
There's still so much to do andwe'll have more to share in the
future.
Yeah, you'll never run out ofthings to do no Congratulations.
Diane Bickett (38:28):
Thank you, happy 2025.
Danielle Doza (38:30):
Yes, go Cavs, go Cavs.
Greg Rotuno (38:32):
We hope you've enjoyed this episode of EcoSpeak
CLE.
You can find our full catalogof episodes on Spotify, apple
Podcasts or wherever you getyour podcasts.
New episodes are available thefirst and third Tuesday of each
month.
Please follow EcoSpeak CLE onFacebook and Instagram and
become part of the conversation.
If you would like to send usfeedback and suggestions, or if
(38:54):
you'd like to become a sponsorof EcoSpeak CLE, you can email
us at hello at ecospeakclecom.
Stay tuned for more importantand inspiring stories to come.
You're listening to EcoSpeak CLE, a podcast for
the eco curious in NortheastOhio.
My name is Diane Bickett and myproducer is Greg Rotuno.
Together, we speak with localsustainability leaders and
invite you to connect, learn andlive with our community and
planet in mind.
Hello friends, happy New Year.
Did you make some resolutionsthis year?
(00:25):
Are you sticking to them?
Well, I gave up on dry Januaryweeks ago, but I'm still
resolved to staying positivethis year by trying some new
things, meeting new people andmaking time for friends and fun,
and, of course, that meanscontinuing to bring you this
podcast, which is full ofpositivity, friends and fun.
So here we are with our firstepisode of 2025.
(00:49):
And we're here with my friend,danielle Doza, who is joining us
.
Danielle is a number one fan ofthe pod, that's right, which
she says all the time when shecan, and she is living her dream
job as the Vice President ofSustainability and Environmental
Services for the ClevelandCavaliers.
Please stay with us as Danielleshares all about her position,
(01:11):
how she got it, the greeninitiative she's implementing,
how sports teams are embracingsustainability and the broader
impact this is having.
Welcome, danielle, thanks forhaving me.
I'm excited to chat today.
Yeah, would you like to shareany New Year resolutions.
Danielle Doza (01:28):
Ooh, that's tough .
I don't do New Year'sresolutions because it's hard,
but what I like to do is amonthly challenge.
So this month is trying not tobuy anything unnecessary.
Now, of course you got to buygroceries or things for the dogs
.
Some months I'm going to read afew pages of a book every day,
(01:52):
or one month, it's okay.
We're going to take a walkoutside every single day.
We did that one in January afew years ago, so that was
definitely a challenge, but it'sa little more manageable to do
these monthly challenges.
Diane Bickett (02:04):
Yeah, it breaks it down.
Manageable to do these monthlychallenges.
Yeah, it breaks it down.
Those sound like some healthyresolutions.
Greg Rotuno (02:10):
So my other resolution which I didn't
mention is to.
I got to stop buying stuff offof like Instagram ads.
It's such a waste of money, allright.
Diane Bickett (02:20):
So I understand that you are the first executive
level sustainabilityprofessional in the NBA?
Yes, that sounds really cool.
Danielle Doza (02:29):
Yes, it is really cool.
Diane Bickett (02:31):
And I think it's also some impressive leadership
on the part of the Cavsorganization.
You've been there for a littleover a year now.
Congratulations.
Danielle Doza (02:51):
How did this position come about?
Our organization joined thisinitiative called GOAL Green
Operations and AdvancedLeadership in the fall of 2022
as more of a commitment tosustainability and worked with
the folks from GOAL to develop afull-time position.
So the organization had beendoing some small sustainability
things, composting back of house.
There was an internalsustainability committee, which
(03:12):
we call the sustainability squad, and they wanted to bring
someone in who had aprofessional background and
expertise to develop and leadstrategy throughout the
organization and do something abit bigger.
So they made the decision tomake a full-time position,
intentionally made it at thatsenior level, which is really a
(03:34):
testament to the investment ofthe organization into
sustainability.
That says yes, we want toinvest in this, we want to lead
on this, which is reallyexciting, and so it's.
It's been a ton of fun for alittle over a year, but that's
how it came about and I waslucky enough to just get
connected to the organization,apply, go through that process
(03:56):
and get this, this amazing job.
Diane Bickett (03:59):
I mean I feel incredibly lucky to have this
position and get to do what I doincredibly lucky to have this
position and get to do what I do, yeah, and you've always kind
of referred to it as your dreamjob, and I think all your
experience has kind of led up tothis too, because your
background I mentioned.
You have a law degree, but youwere a corporate sustainability
consultant.
You worked in a nonprofit withVictoria Avery at Venture
(04:23):
Forward Strategies.
That wasn't, that's notnonprofit.
Danielle Doza (04:27):
No, no, no that was yeah, that was just a that
was a small consulting firm.
Yeah, worked mostly withmanufacturing consumer product
companies on sustainabilitystrategy and reporting, and it
was a really valuable experienceto have that and be able to
bring that into thisorganization just to understand,
okay, this is how othercompanies work and approach
(04:49):
sustainability and bring some ofthose skills into this role in
this organization, even thoughit's very different type of
company, but a lot of it's thebasics.
You know, you've talked to alot of sustainability
professionals.
Of course, when you think aboutyou got a big building, you're
going to create a lot of waste.
You got to focus on that.
You got to think about yourmaterials, your energy, all that
(05:11):
good stuff.
So it was, yeah, very valuable.
And I have a bit of a sportsbackground, just one being a fan
, played sports growing up,played rugby in college, I
coached high school for fiveyears.
Sports growing up, played rugbyin college, I coached high
school for five years.
So I've long been following thesports and sustainability space
and it was just really luckythat this position was local my
(05:34):
hometown, my hometown team.
Diane Bickett (05:35):
Yeah, love it, love it.
Well, they were smart to hireyou, and I also should mention
that Danielle is our co-plannerfor our EcoMeet CLE events which
we've been doing for the lastfew years, in which we got to
get cracking on planning for thenext one.
Danielle Doza (05:51):
One thing at a time.
Stay tuned.
One thing at a time.
Diane Bickett (05:55):
So what has been your focus at the CAVS
organization since you startedand what is your day-to-day like
Day-to-day?
Danielle Doza (06:03):
is different.
Diane Bickett (06:04):
Different every day.
Yeah.
Danielle Doza (06:05):
Yeah, so it's always hard to explain, but I
sit on the facility operationsteam so I heavily focus on the
management of the facility whenit comes to sustainability.
So what we're doing is lookingat all of the materials within
the organization, rightmaterials management.
(06:26):
Everything that comes into ourbuilding has to leave our
building.
So how do we better understandwhat all of that is and how do
we better manage all of thosematerials?
By diverting more from landfill, you know, recycling,
composting, just even reducingthe amount of packaging coming
in.
But it is quite a bit, you know.
When you think of a sportsorganization like ours, it's all
(06:48):
kinds of food and beverageproducts.
We have, of course, officeproducts.
We have over 500 full-time teammembers who work at the arena.
Our offices are there.
So that procurement, supplychain side of things, we have a
whole retail team.
All of our retail is in-house,which is, I guess, not the norm
(07:11):
within a lot of other sportsorganizations.
So everything we do is in-house.
Our retail team is incredible.
That's also a lot of packagingcoming in.
So we think about that.
So we are in the process ofjust trying to evaluate all that
.
And, okay, how might we talkwith suppliers to reduce the
amount of packaging coming in.
Yeah, and you see that with alot of other companies.
(07:32):
Yeah, you know how do you justreduce that material.
So that's a big part of it.
I work closely with thehousekeeping team on the waste
management side of things, youknow, trying to reduce waste to
landfill.
We will be building out more ofan education program,
especially around wasteinternally.
And then energy is, of course,a big one.
(07:55):
Right, we have a large building.
We use a lot of energy, so howdo we think about our energy
usage more?
Invest in some conservation andefficiency?
We did do an energy audit overlast summer and that gave us an
idea of how we can invest insome more efficiency measures.
But it's tough in the sportsindustry when you think of
(08:17):
energy.
Yeah, the Cavs game and all theflashing lights, Exactly yeah
yeah, right, you know we'rethere to put on a show the fire
shooting, the fire shooting.
Yeah, yeah, right, you knowwe're there to put on a show the
fire shooting, the fireshooting.
Yeah.
And every time that goes offI'm like oh, it's our.
You know, propane scope oneemissions.
Greg Rotuno (08:32):
But you need to offset those somehow.
The good news is that it's allinside.
Danielle Doza (08:38):
So it's yeah, we want to put on a good show and
also we want to make peoplecomfortable, right?
You want a comfortabletemperature and when you have
20,000 people in the building,that can be tough to do, so it's
just the nature of the business, if you will.
So you know how do we do thatbetter.
(08:58):
And our building is 30 yearsold.
Rocket Mortgage Fieldhousecelebrates 30 years this season.
Years old Rocket MortgageFieldhouse celebrates 30 years
this season.
So we have to work with anolder building that maybe wasn't
designed with efficiency inmind.
There were absolutely efficiencyupgrades with the
transformation in 2019, withHVAC systems and all that stuff.
(09:19):
Our ice plant was upgraded, sowe do have the Cleveland
Monsters hockey team that playsthere.
That ice lives there all seasonlong.
It is just underneath thebasketball court.
Before, the ice plant was justessentially one giant unit.
It was either on or off, so youhad to keep it on for the ice.
(09:40):
Now it's six smaller units andit uses CO2.
So it's a much safer unit aswell.
So we can have as many as sixon if we need them, or as few as
one unit on to maintain the ice, so it's much more efficient
that way.
So, yeah, energy is just a bigone.
(10:01):
Any plans for renewables?
Not quite yet.
I'm not quite there.
So we, what you know, what weare going to do is look at
energy more holistically overtime.
But we are working on thoseplans and I hope to share more
in the near future.
But you know we're going toconsider every option.
(10:21):
Yeah, we're going to considerevery option that's going to be
best for us and you know I'lljump ahead, I guess.
And a lot of people ask whydon't you put solar panels on
the roof?
Well, the roof is curved.
So it is not a it's, not it'sjust not a great roof to put a
bunch of solar panels on top of.
So that's one tough part.
It would be prohibitivelyexpensive to do something like
(10:45):
that.
Diane Bickett (10:50):
But there are other options that we're
absolutely going to consider inthe future.
Maybe you can tap into thecounty's microgrid somehow.
Greg Rotuno (10:54):
I was going to say you could turn Evan Mobley and
Jared Allen into windmills.
Danielle Doza (10:57):
Right, we absolutely should.
I don't know Greg's here forthe sports references in this
episode, because I know nothing.
I don't even know who thosepeople are.
I like your idea better.
Diane Bickett (11:11):
So your job kind of you cross-populate or
pollinate between the venueitself, which is owned by
Gateway right, and which isowned by Gateway right, but then
your ultimate employer it's theCavs, but it's the you
mentioned it earlier.
Danielle Doza (11:31):
So Rock Entertainment.
Diane Bickett (11:32):
Group Rock Entertainment Group.
Okay, explain that wholestructure.
Danielle Doza (11:35):
Yeah, yes, the building is owned by Gateway,
which is essentially an entityof Cuyahoga County in the city
of Cleveland.
We are the only tenant of thatbuilding, so we do all of the
operations, maintenance,everything within that building
(11:55):
is our organization.
I see, yes, so we're the onlypeople in there.
We do everything.
It's all our organization, butour, you know, rock
Entertainment Group is theoverall entertainment side of
things.
We host a lot of concerts,corporate events, any other type
of event there.
Of course, we've got basketballand hockey, and then our like I
(12:19):
mentioned, our offices arethere as well.
So all of that happens withinthe arena and that's all under
our purview as one organization.
Diane Bickett (12:28):
Okay, Thanks for explaining that it's not just
the basketball team that youwork for.
So you've recently gotten somerecognition by that organization
that you mentioned earliercalled GOAL, which is Green
Operations and AdvancedLeadership.
So the CAVS and the RocketMortgage Fieldhouse
(12:48):
sustainability efforts have beennationally recognized.
I understand you've gotteneight GOAL medals for your
efforts in waste reduction,health and wellness, diversity
and inclusion, esg strategy andcommitment and sustainable
partnerships.
Danielle Doza (13:05):
Yes,
Diane Bickett (13:06):
which one of those do you want to talk about?
Danielle Doza (13:09):
I will say, all of those medals just speak to
the work of our wholeorganization and the culture and
values ingrained in ourorganization.
So you know the health andwellness side of things.
We have someone on staff who'sdedicated just to the wellness
of our team members, so wereally focus on that side of
(13:30):
things.
You know, our social impact andequity team, I think, has 12
team members on it, which is oneof the biggest social impact
teams within the league, andwe've been doing social impact
community work for years andhave developed really deep
relationships with organizationsthroughout the community.
So sustainability was a naturalextension of all of that work.
(13:54):
You know, like I think Imentioned, composting was
started a few years ago, beforeI even got there right, so we
were able to speak to that work.
Diane Bickett (14:02):
And the local food purchasing through your
food vendor goes way back too.
Danielle Doza (14:06):
Exactly so.
A lot of this work was beingdone.
There was sustainability there.
Right now we're just going toexpand that and develop more of
a comprehensive strategy, whichis in the works right now.
So just a big shout out to ourwhole team for all of the work
they do every day, and we'recertainly going to apply for
(14:27):
more medals, so hopefully I cancome back next year we talk
about more recognition.
Diane Bickett (14:30):
Okay, good, you mentioned your team members.
Are you drawing from thefacilities team?
Are you drawing from themanagement?
You know a good green team haseverybody.
Are any of your playersinvolved with some of your
initiatives?
Danielle Doza (14:47):
The players, not on the athletic side of things
at this time.
However, our sustainabilitysquad is about 20 team members
from across the company squad isabout 20 team members from
across the company and anywherefrom you know, housekeeping,
(15:08):
procurement, social impact,communications, our partnerships
team, so it's people can cometogether and they provide some
input on whether it's ourstrategy ideas or volunteer
ideas, or they're also thosechampions that you know take
sustainability back to theirteam and work on integrating
sustainability throughout them.
But our co-chair of thesustainability squad is our
senior director of procurementservices.
(15:28):
So I work closely with ourprocurement team as well, which
is really exciting, becausethat's a huge part of
sustainability, you know, isyour vendors, your suppliers
looking at that.
So it's nice to see folksengaged, you know.
And then every time we bring onnew team members, they go
through an orientation and theyhear about sustainability.
(15:49):
So if someone's coming in newto the organization, they have
the opportunity to hear aboutsustainability or get involved.
But, as I mentioned, there's,you know, team members across
our organization working on itin some way, because I have the
you know, the fun job of gettingto work with all these other
teams within our organization.
So it's just, it's pretty cooljust to see people really lean
(16:12):
in and be engaged.
And you know, I get messagesall the time about, hey, I've
got this idea, or you know thispotential partner, or hey, is
there a recycling outlet forthis?
So people, you know more andmore people are really starting
to think about it, which ispretty cool.
Diane Bickett (16:29):
Yeah, and knowing you, I'm sure I mean you're
very approachable and you'reinspiring, so I'm sure everyone
loves to help contribute to theeffort.
Yes, let's talk a little bitabout some of your partnerships
that are new this year.
Danielle Doza (16:44):
Yes, we are really working on aligning more
partnerships with sustainability, and when I say partnerships, I
mean a corporate partner.
You know, when you come to agame you're going to see
marketing all around.
It's some company's logo,whether it's on the Humongotron
or Sideboards.
Diane Bickett (17:02):
Is that what you call it, the Humongotron?
Danielle Doza (17:04):
Yes, it's called the Humongotron.
Greg Rotuno (17:07):
Have you been there ?
Diane Bickett (17:08):
I have.
Danielle invited me last yearto go to the Monsters game when
it was Sustainability Night.
It was my first and only hockeygame.
It was my first and only hockeygame.
It was fun.
We'll get you back out.
Greg Rotuno (17:18):
Yeah, gotta get to a Cavs game.
Danielle Doza (17:19):
Oh yeah, yeah yeah, we'll get you to a Cavs
game.
Yes, you can see that largehumongotron.
Um so, uh, where was I going?
Diane Bickett (17:28):
with this.
Danielle Doza (17:28):
I'm sorry I didn't know, oh, so a big
partnership we entered into thisyear is with WM, the waste
management yep waste management,the, the waste hauling company.
So they became our wastehauling provider, right, so they
come to the field house, pickup our dumpsters, haul them away
(17:51):
.
They are also a sustainabilityadvisor, as you know, in
addition to to some marketingand stuff.
So we work closely with theirsustainability advisory team.
Wm has essentially a consultingarm for sustainability and they
have a sports-specific section.
So we meet at least every otherweek with their sustainability
(18:14):
advisory team to work on, youknow, reducing waste to landfill
, how do we develop betterstandard operating procedures?
How do we develop bettereducation and training materials
for our team members?
You know, eventually we'llbuild out more around fan
education.
So they work hand in hand withus.
(18:35):
They answer lots of questions,they're helping us better track
our data around waste, sothey're just a really awesome
resource for that.
And, you know, we I don't thinkcould ask for a better
sustainability partner with that, as far as, hey, they really
want to invest in us and help us, you know, reduce our waste
(18:57):
into landfill and better manageall that, better understand our
materials, like I mentioned.
Diane Bickett (19:01):
Yeah, and that's not easy to do because with any,
how many people will go to oneCavs game, Like how many?
Danielle Doza (19:07):
thousands.
You know it is up to 19,000 ormore at, you know, say, a
playoff game or something, butwe have about 20,000 plus people
in the building for a game.
So imagine the waste createdright Just from that.
And it's people buying food andbeverage, people buying stuff
(19:29):
at, maybe at the retail shopSometimes we might have a
giveaway.
So we know waste is going to becreated.
So, again, how do we do thatmore responsibly is something
we're still working on andfiguring out, but every day
we're taking a step there.
We work closely with our foodand beverage partner, aramark,
again, to think about all ofthose food and beverage
(19:50):
materials, think about thatsourcing.
So it takes time.
That sourcing, so it takes time.
And then you know when you,when you want help.
We want people, of course, tohelp us sort the waste and
recycle right.
But how do we do that?
And it's hard to do becausepeople are there to watch a
basketball game or a hockey game.
They're not there to thinkabout recycling or
(20:10):
sustainability.
You know, unless it's me andyou or Greg at a game.
We might be thinking about it,but most people aren't.
And at the end of a game,people are rushing to get out of
there, maybe, and they justwant to, you know, throw their
stuff away, which I totallyunderstand, yeah Right.
So it is hard to.
Diane Bickett (20:28):
Especially when they lose.
Danielle Doza (20:29):
they just want to , which we don't do too often,
right?
Greg Rotuno (20:32):
Thankfully finally.
Diane Bickett (20:34):
Well, I think you have in terms of kind of
engagement for the fans.
You have a unique opportunitybecause you're reaching people
who are not part of the choiryou're.
I mean, this is the generalpublic, general public and this
is a great exposure opportunityto expose them to proper
(20:56):
recycling.
I know when you have yoursustainability nights, you are
talking about what efforts aregoing on there and how to
properly recycle, and I thinkwaste management is also trying
to make it fun because they havethe upcycled couch seat of the
game.
Danielle Doza (21:13):
I'll explain what that is yeah, yeah, the
dumpster couch.
Diane Bickett (21:17):
I want to sit on the dumpster couch if I come to
the game.
I explain what that is yeah,yeah, the the dumpster couch.
It's a.
I want to sit on the dumpstercouch if I come to the game.
Greg Rotuno (21:20):
That's basically what they call brown stadium.
Oh, no comment, that's thedumpster fire oh, I'm sorry, hey
, yes we do, you know we feature.
Danielle Doza (21:30):
We get to upgrade a, a member of the game who
gets to sit there, and they getsome other perks from that.
They get featured on theHumongotron.
So that was a.
It's a fun perk and when we'vegot WM folks on site, they love
to go up and see that as well.
So it's right, it's a fun wayto engage people.
Wm also came on site and did anactivation on the concourse
(21:53):
where they had two garbage canswith little basketball hoops on
them and kids would come up.
They had to answer recyclingquestions and if they got it
right, they got to shoot thebasket and if they won or if
they made it, they got a prize.
So trying to think about howyou engage people in fun ways,
you know.
So we're going to be testingout more of that.
(22:14):
Or, or you know, try justtrying to recognize people for
doing the right thing.
And we recently had asustainability night for the
monsters and we did somesustainability trivia Right, so
it's a fun way.
So you know, as a mom and adaughter who got to stand there
on the Humongotron and answersome fun trivia, that we a lot
(22:36):
of it.
We did about Lake Erie.
I did a brief interview just totalk about our sustainability
initiative, so trying to captureattention that way.
Diane Bickett (22:45):
How did they do?
Danielle Doza (22:47):
They did, they did pretty well it was you know
we tried to make it not too hardand then we had a recycling
shootout.
So two fans shot aluminum cansinto a recycling, can you know,
just as a way to okay, you knowpeople can think about that a
little more.
Okay, oh yeah, it's aluminum,can of course you recycle it?
So you know a recycle shootoutis just again another touch
(23:10):
point for folks.
Yeah, so hopefully they'llcarry that off the court,
exactly, yeah exactly yeah, andhopefully they'll carry that off
the court and back home.
Exactly, yeah, exactly.
Diane Bickett (23:17):
And your other partnership with an organization
called Found Surface, which isAiden Meany is a local clothing
manufacturing company.
Danielle Doza (23:28):
Tell us more about that.
Yes, this is cool, so you know.
Bringing it back to EcoMeet,Sally, we held one of our
EcoMeets about clothing, right?
Diane Bickett (23:37):
Building a circular textile economy.
Yeah, yeah.
Danielle Doza (23:41):
Yeah, so the textile economy, and he was on
that and you know we connectedthere and a while later I
started working at the Cavs andjust kept in touch and
eventually we connected with ourretail team and said, hey, you
know to our retail team, ifyou're interested, check this
out.
They immediately jumped onboard, thought it was cool.
(24:02):
We went to visit their site,their manufacturing site in
Cleveland.
So our retail team was reallyexcited about this.
So we launched a fullytraceable sweatshirt and T-shirt
as part of our city editioncollection.
So it's a collaboration with us.
Found surface in the clevelandmuseum of art and the organic
(24:26):
cotton was grown in texas, itwas milled in and died in
pennsylvania and thenmanufactured right here in
Cleveland Ohio.
So it's sustainable.
It supports the local economy.
All of these scraps from thatmanufacturing process were
composted with Rust Belt Riders,which is really cool.
(24:47):
And then I found out as wellthat Found Surface hires about
80% of their employees are fromKent State, which has its design
school, so it's a lot ofkeeping talent local.
So it was really exciting to dothat.
I have not found another teamthat has launched a traceable
(25:09):
item, at least in the UnitedStates.
I'm not going to say we're thefirst, but I'm still looking to
see if anyone else has done it,but I think it's really cool, or
at least traceable with naturalmaterials.
Diane Bickett (25:22):
Aiden's been working on this for a number of
years, going back to thepandemic in Syracuse when he was
in college, and he's come along way.
He now has a plant and he'sdoing.
What is the term for printing?
Oh, like screen printing, 3dprinting of the clothing.
(25:45):
Oh, right, right, right.
So, he's got quite a vision forbringing back clothing
manufacturing in Cleveland in areally sustainable way, so
excited to have him on the show.
Danielle Doza (25:56):
Yeah, yeah, and it was great to work with him.
Diane Bickett (25:58):
Yeah, yeah Cool.
So we can find that in the teamshop or online.
Danielle Doza (26:03):
You can't find it online, unfortunately but you
can find it on our team shop atCenter Court at the Arena or you
can find it at the shop at theCleveland Museum of Art.
They are selling it as well,which is pretty cool, well done.
Museum of.
Diane Bickett (26:16):
Art.
They are selling it as well,which is pretty cool.
Well done, very exciting.
Let's talk about sports andsustainability overall now,
because we have a couple othersports teams in Cleveland.
Back in the day I used to workwith the manager of Progressive
Field with their sustainabilityefforts and Brown Stadium like
the first grind to energy, wherethey were taking the food
(26:41):
scraps and putting them into alarge grinder and that food
waste was then taken to Quasarand that was like a waste to
energy biodigester in Collinwood.
So I know the other sports teamsare involved.
I won't ask you what thecurrent status is or anything
(27:02):
but overall I've read thatthere's various organizations
that are kind of assemblingaround this.
There's the Green SportsAlliance, there's this Play to
Zero recognition platform, thereis Green Sports Day.
Are you guys involved with allof those?
Can you talk a little bit aboutthose?
Danielle Doza (27:24):
We are members of the Green Sports Alliance and
Great Cleveland Connection.
The board president, EileenMcManaman, is a Clevelander, so
she grew up in the neighborhoodwhere I live, which is pretty
cool.
Yeah, she lives in Vancouvernow and her company, 5t Sports
(27:49):
Group, works with organizationson aligning sustainability and
partnerships.
So you know, big shout out toEileen.
So great Cleveland connectionthere.
She still has season tickets tothe Guardians and comes back to
Cleveland quite a bit, really.
Yeah.
But Green Sports Alliance is amembership group of professional
sports organizations,collegiate sports venues and
(28:11):
service providers so they canconnect their members with
potential service providers.
They do an annual summit thatfocuses all on sports and
sustainability.
They have webinars throughoutthe year that talks about
specific areas of sustainabilitywithin sports.
(28:32):
They do a reuse symposium everyyear Well, I guess the past two
years.
They'll have another one thisyear about reusables and they
also put out these playbooks.
So they have a handful on theirwebsite now and they're all
free to download aboutimplementing sustainability
within sports, whether it iscollegiate sports, even
(28:54):
grassroots sports, orprofessional sports, whether it
is collegiate sports, evengrassroots sports, or
professional sports, and theyfocus on waste, for example, or
water, or food and beverage, andI know they're working on a
couple more.
I think they came out with anenergy one recently.
They just put out a couple more, so it's a great resource if
(29:15):
people are interested in sportsand sustainability.
If you're not already followingthe Green Sports Alliance, you
should follow them on socialmedia.
Go check out that website.
Attend a webinar if you can.
There's also an organization outof the UK called Sport Positive
, which is great.
They do an annual summit aswell, but it's over in London so
(29:37):
it's, you know, not as easy toget to.
However, they put out a lot ofinformation and coverage around
sports organizations, mostly alot of professional but even
down to grassroots informationabout sustainability and sports.
They have a great newsletteryou can sign up to.
They also do a podcast and putout some episodes with
(29:59):
interviews around sports andsustainability.
That's not membership-based,that's just more of an
informational orinformation-gathering type of
organization.
There's an organization nowcalled EcoSportsPro I believe
yeah, eco Sports Pro and thatorganization also does some
(30:22):
webinars.
They have some educationalopportunities for people trying
to maybe break into sports andsustainability and they do a lot
of job postings.
That one is based in Europe,but they post jobs for a lot of
European and North Americanorganizations.
So if you're maybe looking fora job in this area, follow them
on LinkedIn or go to thatwebsite, and so that's a great
(30:47):
organization and you're startingto see more pop up.
Diane Bickett (30:50):
So, with having all these sports organizations
that are so high profile?
How is that helping to amplifysustainability issues and
general public awareness ofclimate change and other issues?
Danielle Doza (31:02):
The benefit of a sports organization is we have a
really big microphone so we canreach a lot of people, right?
You know whether it's thousandsof people coming to a game, or
you know folks following us onsocial media.
The Cavs have the fifth largestsocial media following of any
professional sports organizationin North America, which is
(31:24):
pretty cool.
So that's, you know that's alot.
Anytime we put out some sort ofsocial media posts, you know
however many people see that.
So that's the power of sport,right?
And when you think about sport,most people in the world are
connected to sport in some way,whether that's a grassroots club
(31:45):
they might play with or it'srooting on their favorite team
part of cultures all over theworld.
So people listen to theirfavorite sports team.
They trust that brand.
Right, we are a trusted brandby a lot of people.
So if we say something, peopleknow they can trust what we're
(32:08):
doing or what we're saying,right?
So that's a really big benefit.
And you know, as much as I lovea good manufacturing company
and they're doing great work.
You know they probably don'thave the reach.
Diane Bickett (32:19):
Yeah, you have a bigger microphone, and when the
Cavs win the championship thisyear, we'll have an even bigger
microphone.
That's exactly right.
Danielle Doza (32:25):
That's exactly right.
So that's just the really cool,unique thing about sports.
Or even the music industry, forexample.
You know you see big musicalartists everywhere focused on
sustainability in some way andtheir fans are going to listen
and follow that, which is reallycool.
(32:46):
So you're starting to see muchmore of a growth, of a focus on
sustainability within sports.
You know the NBA, for example,has the NBA Green Initiative.
It's their sustainabilityinitiative that's been around
for about 15 years, and we alsohave a sustainability working
(33:10):
group within the MBA.
So we meet regularly and we canchat with our counterparts at
other teams.
We can tap into the resourcesat the MBA, which is really
awesome.
So you're awesome.
So at the league level, theyare focused on that as well and
we can really engage with them.
So it's just a really coolecosystem.
(33:32):
And with sports, too, we're acompetitive bunch.
Of course, there's a lot ofcompetition in certain areas,
but when it comes tosustainability, it is very
collaborative, right?
We all know that we're onlygoing to get better if we do
things together.
We share resources, we sharethese best practices, so it's
just a really fun space to workin.
Diane Bickett (33:55):
Yeah, so you really, it is really your dream
job, you do have a dream job.
And they say you know, if youdo something you love, you never
work a day in your life.
So, on that note, I think weshould just wind up with our tip
time maybe with some careeradvice, for I know you hosted a
workshop or a meeting withcollege sustainability
(34:18):
professionals a couple monthsago.
I think I read that on LinkedIn.
Yes, what advice are you givingpeople who want to take your
job or just work in general?
Danielle Doza (34:28):
Yeah, we did a college sustainability event,
which was awesome.
It was 250 students and facultyand staff who came to Rock and
Roll Fieldhouse From NortheastOhio schools.
From Northeast Ohio, westernPennsylvania, I think.
We had a couple Columbusschools.
They came up.
For a lot of them it was theirfirst time at the arena, their
first time at a Cavs game andthey came to hear about
(34:49):
sustainability.
So we did a panel discussionwith myself, emily Keller, who's
the Director of Sustainabilityfor Greater Cleveland
Partnership, and then Sandy Reed, who is an Executive Vice
President with Davie TreeCompany, who is an executive
vice president with Davie TreeCompany, who is a incredible
partner of ours.
Davie sponsors our Trees forThrees program.
So for every three-point shotmade during the season, we have
(35:12):
a tree planted in northeast Ohioand that partnership is just
incredible.
So students got to hear aboutyou know their, their jobs, you
know what they do, what we'redoing at the field house, so
that's just a really cool event.
People are already asking whenwe're going to do that again.
But if you are thinking aboutthis, you know I mentioned the
(35:34):
EcoSports organization to followthem.
Try to connect with a localnetwork.
You know.
Come to an EcoMeet CLE event.
The network is super powerful,right?
Just think about the benefitsof the network.
Attend some webinars A lot ofwebinars for Green Sports
Alliance or other organizationsare free to attend.
(35:54):
Start reading about it andmaybe you're a college athlete
and you're listening to this.
You can engage with your ownorganization or you know your
own school.
I did a presentation tostudents from the MAC, the
Mid-American Conference, earlierthis season to talk about
sustainability because thestudents wanted to hear about it
(36:15):
, which is really cool.
So just trying to engage,whether it's your team or your
sports organization at college.
There's an organization calledEcoAthletes that athletes can
join, whether you're acollegiate athlete or up to a
professional or an Olympicathlete, and you can essentially
(36:36):
claim that you are committed tosustainability in some way and
join that organization and thenfollow along.
Just, you know, follow peopleon LinkedIn.
You know, read some coveragebecause it very much is a
growing area.
I think we're going to start tosee more professional
organizations around the worldstarting to hire more
(36:58):
sustainability-focused positions.
Diane Bickett (37:02):
Very exciting.
I'm so happy to hear that allthis is taking place and it's
just kind of growing and yeah,it's a good, positive way to
start the year.
Danielle Doza (37:12):
Yeah, and I you know I love talking about it.
I've been on some other,whether it's podcasts or
webinars, for you know you'vebeen on a lot of podcasts.
Every time I turn around, soyou know, some are US based.
What I'll say.
Some are US based, some areEuropean based, but I get to
share about what we're doing inCleveland.
(37:32):
You know, not just with theCavs, but all these cool things
we're doing in Cleveland, right?
You know we have a reallyincredible sustainability
community within Cleveland,because people ask me well, you
know, how do you get connectedto resources?
How do you figure this out?
I'm like I know a lot of peoplein the city.
I came in with the benefit ofhaving this incredible network
(37:52):
that I can reach out to forresources to help make things
happen, which is just thecoolest thing.
So Cleveland's got it going on.
Diane Bickett (38:01):
Thank you so much for being an ambassador for
Cleveland and sustainability.
Greg, do you have any otherquestions?
Greg Rotuno (38:08):
I should say you've confirmed my suspicion that the
Cavs are the best runorganization in the city by a
very large margin.
Thank you.
Danielle Doza (38:16):
Yeah, thanks for having me on.
It's been really exciting.
I hope people follow along.
So we're going to continue tobuild.
There's still so much to do andwe'll have more to share in the
future.
Yeah, you'll never run out ofthings to do no Congratulations.
Diane Bickett (38:28):
Thank you, happy 2025.
Danielle Doza (38:30):
Yes, go Cavs, go Cavs.
Greg Rotuno (38:32):
We hope you've enjoyed this episode of EcoSpeak
CLE.
You can find our full catalogof episodes on Spotify, apple
Podcasts or wherever you getyour podcasts.
New episodes are available thefirst and third Tuesday of each
month.
Please follow EcoSpeak CLE onFacebook and Instagram and
become part of the conversation.
If you would like to send usfeedback and suggestions, or if
(38:54):
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