This is how it usually goes for the Green Team at the annual Dexter-Ann Arbor Run:
- Get everything set up just before the races start
- Breathe until the 10K runners starting coming in
- Go like hell for the 10K rush, followed by the 5K rush, followed by the 13.1 rush
- Station takedown, grab a bite, then fall on the water stop bags
- Weigh everything
- Group photo, go home and crash
This year, with great weather and over 3,500 runners, was no different. In fact, it was the rushiest rust I’ve experienced in seven years of doing this. But thanks to a terrific group of HPR staff and volunteers, we got through it, with our second-best ever landfill diversion rate.
Boy, did those boxes fill up fast.
Setup
We set up two stations on Main Street between the finish line and the food tents. We also set up a station in the beer area for collecting waste and providing pails for unfinished beer. We covered City trash cans in the race area and placed All Waste boxes on top, which we patrolled and swapped out.
The finish line provided a Water Monster tank with cups in place of disposable water bottles. This both reduces plastic use and waste volume, as we can stack the cups.
We had our usual recycling dumpster and 13 compost carts provided by Unlimited Recycling. HPR took the specialty recycling (including nearly 30 pounds of Gu wrappers), and the single bag o’ trash that weighed less than 15 lbs.
Waste Streams
Compost: pizza boxes, food waste, napkins, compostable cups
Recycling: streams included:
- Cardboard, plastic wrap and tissue paper from the finisher medals;
- Recyclable cups from the finish line and beer area;
- Food waste (bagels, watermelon, oranges, bananas) and pizza boxes from the food tents;
- Specialty items such as Gu wrappers, race bibs, small plastics, snack bags, and vinyl tablecloths, which went to TerraCycle.
Landfill: tape, dog poop, contaminated plastic, wet wipes, and other items we couldn’t process.
Good Things!
Once again the race used Hiccup Earth reusable cups at the water stops, which cuts the waste from them considerably, No more digging Gu wrappers out of paper cups, to the great relief of the afternoon shift Green Team. The bags also arrived earlier than usual, which meant we could jump right in without waiting for them.
We had several new HPR interns – Cole, Anna Beth, and Marilyn – working their first event. What a baptism by fire! But they were up to the task, keeping things under control as much as humanly possible. And thanks also to veteran staffers Jenny, Liz and Jen.
Anna Beth (center) holds down the station in the beer area.
And while we had no volunteer assistance during the morning rush, we had terrific volunteer support for that afternoon shift, which allowed us to catch up and get through the water stop bags in a timely manner. Much appreciation to Randy, Ravi, Kay, Ken, Mike, and Valerie for their hard work!
And thanks to the team who unwrapped the medals first thing in the morning, putting the plastic strapping, plastic wrap, and cardboard into separate bags for easy collection.
Challenges
The pizza area created a lot of litter that we had to clean up, and the All Waste box on Main near Huron St. filled up quickly. Next time we should set up another staffed station in that area, although we’ll need at least one more team member for the morning shift.
Once again, the tiny “tabs” torn off race bibs for runners to claim pizza and beer caused a mess. When they weren’t blowing out onto the road, they were getting mixed in with the pizza boxes, forcing us to pick them all out. Marking the tabs with a Sharpie should take care of this, something we’ll stress next time.
A few “rogue trash cans” did show up, including two at the finish line and a small can on Main Street we forgot to cover. Three additional bags of mixed trash on Main Street also appeared after we’d wrapped up. Fortunately they didn’t require a whole lot of time to sort. But it’s something we always need to keep an eye out for.
The Wrap-Up
Despite being swamped during the rush, we got everything collected, sorted, and weighed by 2:30, with a diversion rate just shy of 99 percent. That’s worth celebrating! Many thanks to race director Clint McCormick for supporting sustainability, finish line director Michael Linkevich for his coordination and sorting help, and to everyone on the Green Team who made it possible.
Happy Planet Running 