A snowy Sunday morning in Michigan, but over 1,000 runners came out to get in a 5K before the Big Game. And all of them would want to grab hot dogs, cookies, pint glasses and awards, and be on their way soon afterward. In past years the rush has been very challenging for the Zero Waste team. Could we keep up this year, and improve on last year’s 93 percent diversion? We were going to find out!
Sustainability Report: Super 5K 2018
Date: February 4, 2018
Event company: RF Events, Ann Arbor MI
Location: Novi High School, Novi MI
# Attendees: 1,150
Zero Waste Team volunteers: 6
Race Overview
The Super 5K is held on the roads around Novi High School the morning of Super Bowl Sunday. Runners gather inside Novi High School to keep warm until the 8:30 a.m. start, then go back inside afterward for post-race food and awards. Hot dogs and meatballs are the hot dishes, along with cookies and bananas.
The Zero Waste team is busiest from about 9:15 to 10:30, when the runners are eating, checking out a few vendors, and gathering for the awards. In addition to food waste and containers, there are the empty boxes from the finishers award of pint glasses.
Zero Waste Plan
Like last year, all the materials in the kitchen area – hot dog serving papers, boats and toothpicks for meatballs, and napkins – were certified compostable. Recyclable materials included plastic water bottles and cups for the volunteer coffee & hot chocolate, as well as all the cardboard and the water cups from the aid station. We also captured the plastic bags and wrap from various race material packaging.
We deployed three Zero Hero Advocates inside the main area, each staffed with a volunteer. In the serving room we set up a set of signed cardboard bins by the exit doors, and staffed them with two volunteers. The trash containers from the high school were concealed or covered to ensure we captured as much of the event waste as possible.
Novi High School took the collected recyclables. Compostable materials were returned to RF Events for pickup and delivery to the Ann Arbor composting facility. HPR (Jeff) took the plastic bags and the linings from the volunteer coffee boxes (to be sent to TerraCycle).
Outcome
A terrific 98 percent diversion. But without the broken glass, the landfill would have been less than one pound (a few wrappers, some tape, and a couple of hand warmers). Darn clumsy runners!
Breakdown by waste stream:
- Compostables: 92.9 lbs. (26.1 %)
- Recyclables: 53.3 lbs. (71.9 %)
- Landfill: 7 lbs. (2 %)
What Went Right
Using compostable materials simplified disposal and reduced the need for sorting.
Applying lessons learned from last year, we used fewer and larger containers for mustard and ketchup, reducing the need to rinse them out before recycling them. We also posted signs at the food tables informing runners that their food and containers were all compostable.
Having sufficient volunteers to staff the Zero Waste stations and keep control of things in the kitchen area meant we got everything sorted and weighed in record time.
Last year we overlooked weighing the boxes that had contained the pint glasses. This year we captured that information (nearly 170 pounds).
Opportunities for Improvement
Cover the outside trash bins earlier. By the time we went to cover them, they already contained some race-related waste.
Find a way to keep people from dropping their pint glasses. Despite annual urgings to put them in a bag or somewhere else safe, several glasses are dropped and broken each year. We can’t recycle them, as their chemical composition is different from glass bottles and jars, so they have to be landfilled. Plus the broken glass is dangerous.
What We’ll Do Differently Next Time
Not much. The process seems to be well established.
Happy Planet Running 
Leave a Reply