This year’s Stegosaurus Tri was sunny and warm, so the Green Team was happy to be working under the shade of a canopy. I felt sorry for the folks who signed up for the duathlon option (run, bike, run) and skipped the swim.
We set up the standard stations near registration and in the post-race party area, with All Waste boxes at each exit of the transition area. The team consisted of just myself (Jeff) and intern Becca, working her first event. She said it was fun. Gotta love that!
This year waste totals increased from 2022 in all categories, with slightly more cardboard and a lot more cups used, likely due to the very warm evening. Compost increased due to adding pizza to post-race food. However, total waste was still under 100 lbs.
Post-race food was Little Caesars pizza in personal-size boxes, and cookies – individually wrapped, but they were a marketing promotion, so it’s hard for the race company to say no to free. And TerraCycle provides a way to recycle the wrappers.
There were also fewer dead dinos than last year – just three small ones. And a successful repair to a large one meant a new guy came on the scene – Zero Waste Rex!
Landfill was the usual suspects – tape, soiled waxed paper, and lots of those tiny, shiny tabs from wristbands that are a b***h to pick up all over the registration transition areas. But once again, we had less than one pound to send there, which meant the park trash cans were empty when we left. Except for one at the far end of the park, which did collect some race waste. Maybe next time, if we have the bandwidth!
Happy Planet Running 