This year’s Dexter-Ann Arbor Run promised to be a busy one for the Green Team, and boy, was it ever.
Attendance was up again, at nearly 4,000 runners, the weather was fine, and people hung around to eat, drink, and enjoy the feeling of completing the run. Having run the signature half marathon many times, I understand the concept of “basking in the glow” with other happy runners.
The joint is jumpin’! Food and post-race gathering area.
For those collecting, sorting, and processing waste, it would be well into the afternoon before we, too, could relax and enjoy the accomplishment of keeping over 99 percent of the collected waste out of the landfill. Worth it!
Setup
Due to construction downtown, the post-race festivities took place on Ann St. and the courthouse parking lot. We set up our staffed stations on either end of the parking lot, and put All Waste boxes at the food tables. All Waste boxes also went on top of covered city trash cans at Main & Ann St., just past the finish line, on the Water Monster table, and next to the beer station. We also put two boxes on the sidewalk between Ann and Catherine St.
Morning Green Team helps a runner. From left: Marilyn, Jess, Jules, and Joe.
The food tables got compost carts for food waste and pizza boxes, and a box for disposable gloves. They brought cardboard and used tablecloths to the main station.
Post-race water was provided by a Water Monster tank with paper cups. The beer station used recyclable plastic cups.
Unlimited Recycling provided a recycling dumpster and 15 compost carts. HPR took the specialty recycling (including over 30 pounds of Gu wrappers), and the single bag o’ trash.
Waste Streams
Compost: pizza boxes, food waste, napkins, compostable cups
Recycling: streams included:
- Cardboard, plastic wrap and plastic strapping from the finisher medals;
- Paper cups from the finish line and plastic from the beer station;
- Food waste (bagels, watermelon, oranges, bananas) and pizza boxes
- 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.
This is it! Our standard Single Bag o’ Trash weighing only 10 lbs. (Not the most glam photo, I know.)
Good Things!
Once again the race used Hiccup Earth reusable cups (30,000) at the water stops, which cuts way down on disposable cups. Apparently we had to use Gatorade branded cups for Gatorade, so there were a fair number of those cups, but nothing like in years before Hiccup Earth.
The staff – Bridget, Cole, and Marilyn – and all the volunteers worked hard the entire time, and plowed their way through a lot of waste in record time.
Main station during takedown. Foreground: collected waste remaining to be sorted. Background: Filled compost carts and cardboard.
I was worried about volunteer support, having only two confirmed. But two more (Jess and Jules) showed up in the morning, and more joined us later on, just in time for the big half marathon rush. And we got help with water stop waste sorting, too. They were all needed, as we processed the second-highest amount of waste in the eight years of the event.
Water stop sorting team hard at work!
The finish line team did a good job sorting the materials from the medals, so the Green Team didn’t have to. And the food team kept most contaminants out of the compost carts.
No “rogue trash cans” this year, which was a huge relief, as we were swamped with the waste we collected.
Challenges and Opportunities for Improvement
For some reason a number of tear-off tags for pizza were found on the ground, even though they weren’t being collected this year. (Habit, perhaps.) However, I found very few in the compost carts, which is an improvement over last year.
A lot of cups of half-consumed beer were left on the Water Monster table. Next time we can add a pail there for dumping liquids. (I personally emptied six nearly full 5-gallon pails of poured-out beer, which is over 20 gallons worth.)
The standalone boxes on Main St. and the Water Monster filled up quickly and required frequent swapping out. With a larger team we can send a regular “rover” to do that.
With volunteer signup light and unpredictable year to year, we should really look into finding a regular and dependable source of Green Team volunteers for next year.
The Wrap-Up
All the compost and standard recycling was sorted, weighed, and put away by 3:30, later than last year, but good considering the volume. I (Jeff) completed sorting the specialty items at home following the race, which included drying all the wet bags and tablecloths.
Yes, I really did dry all the wet plastic bags. Otherwise they get moldy.
Our diversion rate of 99.4 percent (just 10 lbs. of landfill) is a new record! 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 