The Halfmoon Lake beach area was already buzzing with activity when Happy Planet Running arrived at 6:30 a.m. to begin another Zero Waste event with the Epic Races Ann Arbor Triathlon. Over 300 athletes showed up to do a triathlon (up to Olympic distance), duathlon, or aquabike, and there were some relay teams, too.
We set up the main Zero Waste Station near the food tents. Additional All Waste boxes were placed at the transition exits, food prep area, in the beer area, and at the finish line. We also covered a park trash can near the parking lot and put an All Waste box on top.
For some reason this spot was very popular for throwing things away. Sometimes you just have to play it by ear!
To improve litter in the transition area, we posted “please clean up your station” signs on the bike racks. It seemed to help somewhat. We also added a third waste bin to the middle of the transition area, though it did not receive much use.
Standard waste streams included food waste, compostable plates and cups, cans, cardboard, and boxboard. We also had a smattering of specialty items like race bibs and broken medals, small plastics like zip ties, and Gu wrappers, which all go to TerraCycle.
Pretty cool medals, with the three sliders, huh? Except they fall out.
Our Green Team consisted of Jeff, Jen (sis), Iki, and Han, working his first event as HPR intern. Han is from Taiwan and is also working on seeing what HPR can do with carbon footprint analysis and reduction.
From left: Iki, Jen, Han. Yes, it was warm at the time, but the rain took care of that.
Late in the morning we had a short but intense rain shower, and water got into everything we collected. This necessitated drying out a lot of it the next day before it could be recycled. The things we do for sustainability!
Total waste was up 50 percent from last year’s 108 lbs. Compost, recycling, and landfill all increased. Part of that could have been increased attendance, and more food eaten, as much of the landfill is contaminated foil. Mixed recycling was up because some of the finish line and water stop cups were waxed rather than compostable. We also retrieved a good amount of race waste and other recyclable materials from the park trash cans we did not cover.
A little rain aside, everything went well!
Happy Planet Running 