by Green Team Captain Rachael Rewitzer
The Epic Races Ann Arbor Tri is a multi race event with each one (except the duathlon) including water whether you wanted it or not. Saturday was a very rainy day but that stopped no one from performing an amazing race without leaving a trace!
We set up the main Zero Waste Station near food and beer tents. Additional All Waste boxes were placed at the transition exit, food prep area, and on top of a trash can in the parking lot.
Food was the standard Epic athlete-pampering variety: pancakes, egg wraps, salad cups, snacks, and even ice cream bars, all served using compostables where needed. Using unwaxed paper cups gave us the versatility to either compost or recycle them, a great bonus.
Yes, thanks to TerraCycle we can recycle ankle tags and race bibs!
Our Green Team consisted of Rachel (captain), Jeff, Emma, and two volunteers, Avi and Courtney (on the left in the photo below).
(Ed. note from Jeff: I believe this is the first time we’ve had a pregnant volunteer. She rocked it!)
Waste at the transition area and near the finish line came to 106 lbs. with only 3.7 lbs. going to the landfill! Unfortunately, the aid station bags weren’t collected until after the team had to leave, and a communication mixup caused them to be discarded. Oops! So they aren’t included in the data. Also at the end we received a dreaded “rogue trash can” set up near the finish line and filled with mixed waste we had to sort. Got to be more vigilant, and communicate more with the crew!
This event was also particularly special because our social media team was able to do an “Instagram Takeover” of the University of Michigan’s Program in the Environment (PitE) Instagram account. This means that HPR was able to share the event and our work over on their Instagram account to reach a wider audience! Check out their Instagram @pitenvironment!
If you want to see more of the inside scoop of what we do at events, also check out our TikTok where we have videos posted describing what we do best at @happy.planet.running!
Happy Planet Running 