Mahoney Hits a Home Run at Wrigley

Mahoney Environmental Develops Custom Waste Oil Disposal for Iconic Stadium

What is there to say about Wrigley Field that Chicago area residents don’t already know? Wrigley Field is one of the most iconic stadiums in the U.S. and is deeply embedded in Chicago sports culture for being the home of the Cubs and for a period of time – the Bears. It is known and loved for its unique characteristics including the ivy on the home run fence and the famous marquee that can be seen at the corner of Clark and Addison. Wrigley Field has long been the centerpiece of the Lakeview neighborhood which has grown considerably around the stadium in the last couple of decades. The architect that designed Wrigley Field, Zachary Taylor Davis, was recently honored by having the new Zachary Hotel across the street from Wrigley named after him. The Chicago Cubs have great attendance numbers every season. In 2017, more than 3 million people came to Wrigley Field just for baseball games. This means that each season, the 35 concession stands within Wrigley Field serve food to millions of people.

However, the cooking oil disposal system for the concession stands was becoming outdated and inconvenient for the employees to use. Mahoney Environmental was called to help develop a new oil disposal system that would be safer and more convenient for Wrigley Field’s concession stands.

Challenge:

• Integrate the waste oil disposal for 35 stands (concessions at the ballpark) into one combined unit– Having multiple waste oil disposal units makes disposing the oil more challenging for the ballpark. The idea was to have one combined disposal unit for all oil waste that can be used conveniently by every concession stand in the park.
• Eliminate outdoor manual waste oil tanks– Outdoor waste oil tanks are an eyesore that take up outside space. Eliminating the need for these tanks frees up outside space and creates a safer environment.
• Eliminate handling of waste oil by employees – Requiring employees to manually take the oil waste to a disposal unit makes their jobs more inconvenient and increases the risk of accidents or injuries. The new disposal system will not require concession stand employees to handle the waste oil.

Solution:

• Custom fabricated equipment designed to make waste oil disposal easier – We developed custom designed oil disposal equipment to make the disposal process easier and safer.
• Shuttles/Caddies for each stand using the system – Each concession stand has its own equipment to dispose of their waste oil directly into the new disposal system. We trained the concession stand employees on how to use this equipment properly.
• Direct connect caddies to customers’ filtration system built into the fryer banks – The waste oil can be deposited into the disposal system straight from the fryer banks, eliminating the need for employees to manually transport the waste.
• Web-based activity monitoring – The disposal unit has a monitoring device that prevents the tanks from being filled to capacity. This helps prevent unexpected overflows that can cause major problems.

Results:

• Increased productivity and safety throughout the stadium – Concession stand employees do not need to transport waste oil throughout the stadium, making their jobs safer. They can also devote more of their time to more important duties.
• Clean dock and alley area without manual tanks – The outside area looks better without the outside oil tanks and it will be cleaner and safer without gallons of waste oil.
• Elimination of fines and health code violations– The new oil disposal system is in compliance with health code regulations which will prevent fines for violations. The money saved on fines partially pays for the upgraded oil disposal system.

Extremely Satisfied Customers – Mahoney not only takes care of the design and installation of cooking oil disposal systems; we also train employees on how to use the system and provide pickup and delivery services to bring fresh cooking oil and remove oil waste.