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. I was nominated for theContinue reading “HPR Accepts Environmental Excellence Award”

Cold Turkey, Hot Chocolate, Zero Waste

A cold, blustery morning didn’t stop thousands of people from packing downtown Ann Arbor for the annual Turkey Trot. With a hot chocolate and coffee station for the runners, we promised to be awash in cups, as well as bananas, cookies, and cardboard from all the boxes. We learned last year that making the raceContinue reading “Cold Turkey, Hot Chocolate, Zero Waste”

Sweet Success! Hot Cocoa Classic Sustainability Report

How do you get several hundred people to show up on a cold, gray morning and climb a steep hill to begin a run? Promise them hot chocolate afterward! With a lot of food and drink being consumed in a short time, could the Zero Waste effort keep up? With a good process and thoughtfulContinue reading “Sweet Success! Hot Cocoa Classic Sustainability Report”

Slam that Cider! Scrumpy Skedaddle 2017 Zero Waste Report

A perfect fall morning, a run through an apple orchard, pancakes, and the best draft hard cider on the planet. That’s as good as it gets, folks. And this year, over 2,000 people showed up at Almar Orchards in Flushing to run, eat, and imbibe. The Scrumpy Skedaddle is a great race, but last yearContinue reading “Slam that Cider! Scrumpy Skedaddle 2017 Zero Waste Report”

Can You Recycle Race Bibs? Yes! (Updated)

UPDATE March 2020: It appears that DuPont no longer supports recycling of Tyvek race bibs. At this time the only race bib recycling option I can find is to use a Sporting Goods Zero Waste Box from TerraCycle. You can find it on their website at this link. They are also sold through some third-partyContinue reading “Can You Recycle Race Bibs? Yes! (Updated)”

Down and Dirty: Dances with Dirt – Hell 2017

Dances with Dirt – Hell is an excuse for several thousand people to dress up in wild costumes, run a few miles on trails, get dirty, and then consume a lot of beer. Hundreds of relay teams and a few brave solo ultrarunners carve their way through the Pinckney recreation area – some of itContinue reading “Down and Dirty: Dances with Dirt – Hell 2017”

Hear Them Roar! Detroit Women’s Half Marathon Sustainability Report

What happens when you take 1,000 women, give them coffee and chocolate, and blast the Katy Perry music? A half marathon breaks out! Would the Zero Waste team pick up enough of that energy to stay on top of the trash? Read on to find out!

Peace, Love, and Zero Waste: Run Woodstock Sustainability Report

Billed as, “a weekend of peace, love, music, and running,” Run Woodstock is the largest RF Events race of the year. It also generates the most waste of the year, with enough work to keep the Zero Waste team busy from setup on Thursday through takedown on Sunday. In 2016 we achieved 88% landfill diversionContinue reading “Peace, Love, and Zero Waste: Run Woodstock Sustainability Report”

Third Time’s the Charm! T-Rex Tri achieves 97.5% Diversion

The final race of the T-Rex series of sprint triathlons this year takes place on a perfect summer evening, and results in the best Zero Waste result of the three.

No Sour Grapes! Running Between the Vines Achieves 99 Percent Diversion

Attempting Zero Waste at a race that also involves wining and dining 2,000 people? No problem! A beautiful morning for a challenging set of races, and despite being up to our epaulets in cardboard, the Zero Waste team achieved a high for the year in waste diversion. Read on to see how we did it!