The Westport High School theater group, known as the Staples Players, along with the Staples Players Booster Organization recently announced the move to more sustainable concession practices for their upcoming performances of TWELFTH NIGHT.

While busy preparing for a rousing modern musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s romantic comedy, the Staples Players also explored options to transition their concessions away from single-use plastic. Each academic year, the Staples Players Booster Organization sells around 3,000 single-use water bottles during concessions at their main stage productions. This represents a substantial revenue source, which allows the Staples Players to offer Broadway-quality productions for the community. However, according to the Container Recycling Institute, only 12% of disposable water bottles used in the United States are recycled; meaning 86% of disposable water bottles end up as litter or in a landfill. 

After exploring and researching several alternatives, the Staples Players and the Staples Players Booster Organization selected a BPA-Free aluminum water product to replace the traditional plastic bottles offered at concessions. Aluminum cans/bottles are created from 68% recycled content and are infinitely recyclable, which makes them one of the most valuable commodities in the recycling system. 

This change represents a small but important commitment to identifying sustainable alternatives for all Westport High School theater productions. Help support the Staples Players by attending their upcoming adaptation of TWELFH NIGHT, and be sure to stop by the concession stands to see this sustainable change in action. 

THANK YOU to the Staples Players for being a Sustainable Westport Superstar!

More Water Bottle Recycling Facts from the Sierra Club:
The U.S. recycling system is currently unable to recycle even a quarter of plastic water bottles and lacks the capacity to recycle more than 12 percent of the bottle caps. Even the portion that does get recycled is never “100 percent recyclable”— of the plastic water bottles that get recycled, about 28 percent of the material is lost to processing or contamination and ends up in landfills. In a final irony, the polypropylene plastic film labels on which the “100 percent recyclable” claims are printed on the bottles are themselves completely unrecyclable.