Rogers Arena, home to the Vancouver Canucks, expects to switch to LED lighting soon as part of a larger strategy to reduce the venue’s environmental footprint and reduce waste.

“We’re looking at upgrading our lighting system in the very near future,” said Michael Doyle, general manager of Rogers Arena and executive vice-president of Canucks Sports & Entertainment. “LED lights are one of the biggest impacts we’ll have.”

Doyle was speaking to more than 500 people attending a Metro Vancouver zero-waste conference Wednesday aimed at exchanging ideas on various initiatives to reduce waste from all sectors of society.

The switch at Rogers Arena could involve the replacement of up to 300 1,000-watt bulbs. The National Hockey League would also be involved to ensure the lighting is suitable for broadcasting and to monitor the amount of reflection on the ice surface.

Metro Vancouver used the conference to launch the National Zero Waste Council, an initiative to bring government, business and non-governmental organizations together to work nationally and internationally to influence consumer behaviour, product design and packaging in the hopes of reducing waste and encouraging recycling and reuse of products.

“We need to change the way we are thinking about garbage,” said council chair Malcolm Brodie, mayor of Richmond. “We really are on a journey here.”

Michael Buda, director of policy and research for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, credited Metro Vancouver for taking the lead on what is certain to be a challenging issue.

“A culture change, nothing is harder than that,” he said. “It’s going to be a long, hard road.”

Local governments in Canada spend about $2.6 billion to manage solid waste every year. “It’s a great example of the power of local government,” Buda said.

Rogers Arena has a goal of diverting 90 per cent of its waste from landfills by 2016, up from the current 54 per cent and 12 per cent from four years ago.

“We obviously use a lot of electricity for lighting and to keep the arena cool for hockey and warm for concerts,” Doyle said. “Montreal (the Bell Center) changed to an LED lighting system that not only saves electricity but also results in much less heat, which also helps in cooling the building.”

Other initiatives include the composting of unused food and donations to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank. Meters are also being installed to measure water, electrical and gas consumption to better track sustainability goals. “How do we get more efficient, producing the best ice ... but using less energy?” Doyle said.

Unused kitchen oil is recycled as bio-diesel oil. Broken hockey sticks go to BC Children’s Hospital to help stabilize legs after surgery.

Boyle said it’s important to make the system easy for customers, noting it is a split-second choice on whether to place compostable and recyclables, such as a pizza box or a beer cup, into the correct bin and avoid it winding up in the waste stream.

“Making it simple is key for us and trying to limit the amount of choices so they can do the right thing.”