A perfect night for this year’s RF Events Hightail to Ale 5K, and nearly a thousand runners showed up for their Atwater Brewery beer with a 5K thrown in. With pizza and live music afterward, everyone had a good time, and the Green Team was there to keep everything clean and sustainable.
Debbie assures a runner that yes, everything goes in the boxes!
We set up our usual main station in the parking lot that held the beer and the band, and satellite stations at the two “No Beer Past Here” boundaries on Atwater Street. Each satellite station had a 96-gallon cart for beer cans and two large All Waste boxes, which we swapped out when full. The Atwater tent, which sold extra beer, also got a Zero Waste box.
With some time to spare between setup and the start of the race, I walked down Atwater Street picking up litter, of which there was a lot. I filled two of our large-sized All Waste boxes with all kinds of stuff, including many glass bottles. It’s a shame when people don’t respect their neighborhood enough to put their trash in a can or dumpster, but then again, we recovered a lot of recyclables that would otherwise have gone to landfill.
Joining me and staffers Payrav, Debbie, and Cole were three volunteers – Debbie’s mom Sue, and Bart and Yvette, who saw our setup and decided to pitch in on the spot. Their help was VERY much appreciated. This was Payrav’s first event, and he says we didn’t scare him away, which is a hopeful sign.
Bart and Yvette handling the rush at the main station.
Cole and Payrav hold down one of the boundary stations.
Beer cans were down a bit this year, filling just over two 96-gallon carts. Overall recycling was also way down, led by cardboard, due to RF Events switching out glass finisher pint glasses with aluminum ones, saving the Green Team a lot of boxes and dividers to break down. Cardboard and boxboard from the cases of beer cans was also down slightly.
Compost included Little Caesars pizza boxes, items from the Simply Spanish food truck, and banana peels. Specialty items included lots of beer tickets, which are torn off the race bibs, and snack bags. Landfill was consistent at just over half a pound.
All went well, and we were outta there just before 9:00 p.m.
Happy Planet Running 