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HPR In The News

Ann Arbor Track Club Salutes Zero Waste at its Flagship Event

The Dexter-Ann Arbor Run, a half-marathon put on by the Ann Arbor Track Club (AATC), has been held annually since 1974 and draws thousands of runners each year. As with any event that size, it generates a lot of waste.

In 2018 AATC approved a Zero Waste initiative for the race, and landfill waste was cut from several thousand pounds to just 28, and just 23 pounds in 2019. Happy Planet Running was proud to be a part of this effort. In its newsletter, the “Rundown” the club recently recognized and applauded the program. See the excerpt below. Great stuff!

Continue reading “Ann Arbor Track Club Salutes Zero Waste at its Flagship Event” →

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Epic Races and HPR Recognized for Zero Waste by USA Triathlon

More good press about Zero Waste at athletic events! An interview with Eva Solomon, founder and CEO of Epic Races, was published on the USA Triathlon website last September. Epic has used Happy Planet Running at their events since 2017.

“I wanted Epic Races to be eco-friendly,” Eva said, but she had challenges at first. In the interview, she talks about the planning and execution needed for a Zero Waste program, the costs involved, and how working with Happy Planet Running made the program successful. (Epic events now average over 90 percent diversion.)

The article’s featured photograph (repeated here) is from the Firecracker 5K held July 4, 2018 in downtown Ann Arbor. Pictured from left to right are: Jeff (HPR), Eva, and Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor. We’re holding the single bag of landfill waste (less than two pounds) from a downtown event with hundreds of runners and thousands more spectators watching the race and the parade immediately following.

Read the full USA Triathlon interview with Eva here!

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HPR Accepts Environmental Excellence Award

What’s more fun than getting an award? An award plus getting to promote sustainability at running events!

Happy Planet Running has been given a 2018 Eunice L. Burns Environmental Awareness Award from the Ann Arbor Area Board of Realtors (AAABoR). I accepted the award at their annual meeting on January 10.

Happy Planet Running award - cropped

I was nominated for the award by Mary Culbertson of Epic Races, who is also an AAABoR member. Thanks again, Mary!

As part of the award I was invited to give a brief presentation about my company and what we’ve been able to accomplish. The following is an edited version of my presentation and remarks.

Continue reading “HPR Accepts Environmental Excellence Award” →

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Happy Planet Running Receives Environmental Awareness Award!

From the Totally Unexpected News desk: I’ve won an award!

The Ann Arbor Area Board of Realtors (AAABoR) has selected HPR to receive its Eunice L. Burns Environmental Awareness Award for 2018.

The award recognizes HPR for developing Zero Waste programs for local running events such as the Ann Arbor Marathon and the Dexter and Ann Arbor Turkey Trots. In 2017 HPR helped 30 events recycle and compost over 15,000 pounds (nearly eight tons) of event waste that would otherwise have gone to a landfill.

Firecracker 5K - single bag of trash
2017 Firecracker 5K: Total event trash held up with two pinkies!

The award will be presented at the AAABoR General Membership Meeting in January. I’ll provide details after the date is confirmed, and again after the ceremony.

More information about the award, and its past recipients, can be found on the award’s web page here.

Many thanks to Mary at Epic Races for nominating HPR and to AAABoR for selecting me!

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