Another perfect day for the RF Events Martian Invasion of Races at Ford Field Park in Dearborn, although the back part of the marathon course had flooded from the previous day’s rain, so the full was two loops of the half marathon course. Nobody seemed to mind.
Our setup was similar to last year, with stations by the registration pavilion/starting line and next to the pancake station, and an All Waste box on the far side of the vendor area. We added one in the middle of the vendor area, where empty water bottles were being set anyway. We also put a bin with liner next to the medical station just past the finish line. A second one we put there disappeared, and we never found it. Martians?
One difference this year was a set of trash cans right along the path from the vendor area to the pancake station. We covered them with a tarp and put an All Waste box on top, but there was already quite a bit of race waste in some of them, and even after we covered them, people kept trying to put stuff in them. Stubborn! I guess next year we put a station there.
We had a good-sized Zero Waste team handling the morning rush and taking on the aid station bags in the afternoon. Thanks to volunteer John and staffers Debbie, Liz, and Sara, we got nearly everything sorted onsite.
The afternoon team boldly takes on the collected aid station bags.
Compost and landfill were about the same as last year, but there was a big reduction in recycling, mainly from less cardboard. I’m thinking it was due to fewer T-shirts and possible fewer finisher medals. Still, we just about filled the 10-yard recycling dumpster.
In addition to finish line bananas, Chris Cakes provided pancakes and sausage. RF Events provided them with compostable plates, sporks, and cups. The Good Sense Coffee truck served up drinks in compostable cups. This made sorting during the rush much easier.
I need a few more of these signs…
On the opportunities for improvement side, we had a miscommunication with Chris Cakes regarding waste. I told them I could not take unsorted mixed waste but they left two bags of just that, which we put in the park trash and didn’t count in our results. On the positive side, we recovered many pancakes on the ground, empty Tang containers, and such.
Overall, can’t complain about another 98 percent landfill diversion result!
Happy Planet Running 