Another beautiful day for trail races at Sleepy Hollow State Park, and while the Headless Horseman was nowhere to be seen, there was another terrific Zero Waste result.
Sustainability Report: The Legend Run 2018
Date: August 4, 2018
Event company: RF Events, Ann Arbor MI
Location: Sleepy Hollow State Park, Laingsburg MI
# Attendees: 570 runners
Zero Waste Team volunteers: 2 (Captain: Ed Green)
Results
- Compostables: 55 lbs.
- Recyclables: 250 lbs.
- Landfill: 3 lbs.
Comparison vs. 2017: Total waste increased from 206 lbs. to 313 lbs. with cardboard nearly doubling from 74 lbs. to 137 lbs. But landfill decreased from 5.1 lbs. to 3.0 lbs. and diversion percentage improved from 97.5 percent to 99 percent. Note, however, that due to a scale failure, the 2018 amounts are partly estimated.
Race Overview
The Legend is a set of trail races – 5 miles, 10 miles, half marathon – in Sleepy Hollow State Park. The course offers a variety of terrain to run through, but no much elevation change, which can lead to some fast times (this year the top fourteen half marathon finishers were all under 1:40).
All races are completed and the park cleaned up by noon. The park takes all the recyclables including the waxed paper cups, which go to MSU Recycling. Food waste and compostable containers were taken to a commercial composting facility. A small amount of wrappers and plastic packaging was saved for recycling via TerraCycle.
Zero Waste Plan
Tents were set up at the finish/start line, next to the parking lot, and near the food tent.
Aid stations collect mainly paper cups, gallon water jugs, and cardboard, which are brought to the “Ground Zero” sorting station at takedown.
What Went Well
No problems were encountered with collecting or sorting the event waste.
Challenges
The scale failed, which meant some of the weights had to be estimated.
Opportunities for Improvement
Other than get a new scale, not much!
Happy Planet Running 