Play ball! N.J.-based Action Environmental Group, the official solid waste and recycling provider for Citi Field and Yankee Stadium, unveiled its newly designed New York Mets- and New York Yankees-themed trucks on Opening Day, the start of baseball season.

The trucks, which were designed by Action Environmental Director of Operations Brian Malinari and Marketing Strategist Nikki Cabezal, feature the two teams’ logos and colors and will be used strictly for hauling cardboard.

“This is the first year that we have designed sports-themed trucks, but in September 2016, we partnered with Hopes and Heroes to raise awareness and support for National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and wrapped one of our trucks with a banner to raise awareness and support,” says Malinari. 

During the year-long planning and design process, the Action Environmental team overcame a variety of challenges, such as crafting designs that could be printed on vinyl, working with the trucks’ various angles, matching the exact colors of both teams, complying with city and state regulations and receiving design approval from both teams.

“One of the things that we wanted to do was make the truck cabs white with red laces to resemble a baseball, but the New York City Department of Sanitation is actually the only company in the area allowed to have white cabs so we tossed that idea and moved forward with our other design ideas,” says Malinari. 

Action Environmental plans on doing upkeep of the trucks to use them after this season is over, and it’s exploring the idea of creating New York Knicks- and New York Rangers-themed trucks because the company also services Madison Square Garden.

“It’s nice for us to be able to show pride because New Yorkers are so passionate about their sports,” comments Cabezal. “We did a photoshoot in Times Square with the trucks and a lot of people wanted to stop and take photos with the trucks so we are hoping to have some photo opportunities with the trucks at the stadiums during this baseball season.”