The annual Firecracker 5K is a fixture of the July 4th celebrations in downtown Ann Arbor, along with the parade immediately following the race. This year in addition to the hot dog contest division (eat four hot dogs in 76 seconds, then run the 5K), there was a flag-carrying division and for the first time, a rucking division, which is running or walking with a weighted backpack.
It’s a busy morning for Epic Races and its Green Team (us) getting everything set up on time for the races at 8:00 a.m. then cleaned up and off Liberty St. by 10:00 so the parade can come through.
Debbie and Iki handling the rush (see how full the boxes get, and fast).
Our main station was at Liberty and Fourth near the Fleet Feet store, near the water and bomb pops at the finish. A small unstaffed station was set up farther down Liberty toward Main St., after the runners had all started. We covered City trash and recycling cans on Liberty between Fourth and Fifth and put All Waste boxes on top. All Waste boxes were also provided to the hot dog eating area and next to the water table at the finish line.
As usual we provided reusable aluminum cups for water for the hot dog contest participants. The large cups are useful for those who want to dunk their hot dogs in water before eating them.
Total waste was up from last year, from 40 lbs. to 63 lbs. due to an increase in the amount of recyclables. One reason may have been an increase in the number of water cups used, which this year were waxed instead of compostable. Another contributor may have been the additional material we retrieved from the City recycling bins, which were pretty heavily contaminated with paper cups and other items Recycle Ann Arbor does not accept. Clearly, more education is required.
Just a small amount of compostables from leftover hot dogs, banana peels, and the wooden sticks from the bomb pops. The majority of the landfill was the bomb pop wrappers, which cannot be recycled due to the sugary residue on them.
Light-up medals and bomb pops. What’s not for kids to like about this?
The only annoyance were the tiny little plastic tabs you had to remove from the medals to make them light up. Naturally they were all over the road, and being the “leave it cleaner than you found it” type of organization, we picked up as many as we could find.
Debbie and Iki helped us stay on top of the rush, and we were off the street in time for the parade!
Gotta love dragons, no matter the occasion.
Happy Planet Running 