What an incredible RF Events Run Woodstock weekend! Over 1,000 runners and Lord knows how many others who enjoyed the camping, tie-dye, live music, food, and the overall vibe. You couldn’t ask for better weather, either for running up to 100 miles, or handling all the waste the event produced. The one exception? The large number of yellow jackets, who took advantage of the fine weather to drive the Green Team to distraction. Fortunately they were more interested in the food than us, and we suffered only one sting all weekend. (I alone should have had several, based on all my hand waving.)
The main Zero Waste station was in its usual place in the finish area between the pavilion and food trucks, and next to the trail loop so runners could toss their trash without breaking stride. We also set up a large All Waste bin at the porta-potties, gave two to the pavilion where registration and Saturday’s meals were served. We set aside space for unsorted bags from aid stations and elsewhere and laid our big orange tarp there, so we always had a clear idea of how much work remained at any particular time.
At the Hog Farm aid station we set up a table with four All Waste boxes, with a cart for sorted compostables and another for recyclables off to the side. Every couple of hours we visited the station and sorted, taking the non-standard materials back to the main station. Bags from the other three aid stations were delivered on a regular schedule, which allowed us to process them all before the next load arrived, a real positive. When on Saturday evening Bill said, “This is it!” we all gave a hearty cheer!
Saturday evening crew (Han, Jen, Sue) with the final drop of aid station bags.
Waste totals were up across the board from last year, with compostables the biggest contributor, accounting for nearly 200 of the 240 lbs. increase. Two large boxes of uneaten bananas contributed to that. The total weight of 1,600 lbs. is the largest amount of waste processed since 2019. But landfill at 70 lbs. remained steady at under 5 percent.
One challenge was the amount of recyclable material that needed washing, which ended up filling an entire 96-gallon cart. Most of it was plastic cups and boxes from the food trucks and what campers brought in, and some due to being in the same bag with food waste. In the future I may be more aggressive with washing them onsite instead of saving that effort for after the event.
Overall, however, things went very smoothly for a Woodstock. No instances of waste bins overflowing or excessive litter, and the finish line staff helped out by regularly bringing us their collected waste so nothing accumulated there. And the Hog Farm aid station had fewer bags of waste at takedown than usual, greatly helping the Saturday afternoon and evening Green Teams, which had their hands full from breakfast and lunch in the pavilion and bags from the other three aid stations. And the Saturday evening crew plowed through the final aid station bags, so the Sunday team could focus on weighing, loading, and taking down.
The Saturday afternoon team gets it done! From left: Linda, Bridget, Abby, Debbie.
Speaking of the Green Teams, they were all amazing. My staffers put in their usual first-class effort, and the volunteers did the same. One volunteer had just completed her first 100K! And her mom helped, too. Thanks to them we could keep the sorting going while I took five trips to the recycling center and one to the composting facility.
Kristi (left) ran 62 miles, then sorted trash for five hours. What did YOU do last weekend?
Until next year, peace out!
Happy Planet Running 