August 3rd, 2010 Competitor Group sets high green standard for large-scale races at 2010 Seattle Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon
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Bruce in
News Seattle race composts 550,000 cups from start to finish. Competitor Group partners with FitPlanet to create sustainability program for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Series..
Here’s the release that FitPlanet issued on Friday July 30…
July 30, 2010 – Athletes for a Fit Planet LLC, a leading provider of environmental services to athletic events, is excited to announce that the Seattle Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon & 1/2 Marathon has set what FitPlanet believes is a new industry record for “greening” large-scale road races by composting 550,000 aid-station paper cups weighing 2.4 tons. The race, which took place June 26th and included more than 21,000 runners, was able to divert 9.6 tons of waste from landfill.
“We are very pleased with the greening efforts at this year’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Seattle Marathon & ½ Marathon,” said Anton Villatoro, Vice President of Operations, Competitor Group Inc., which owns and operates the 14-race Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series. “This is just the beginning and shows what’s possible as we make a commitment to embark on our journey towards sustainability.”
The Seattle Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon & ½ Marathon recycled and composted 68% of the 14.2 tons of waste produced on race day. (See chart below.) This included recycling 5.8 tons of plastic, paper, cardboard and other materials, and composting 3.8 tons of food and compostable materials including the aid-station cups. The recycling effort included collecting over 50,000 plastic bottles at the finish line festival at the Qwest Field, home of the Seattle Seahawks.
“The total amount of waste sent to the landfill was just 0.42 lbs per runner, which is a significant accomplishment,” said Bruce Rayner, FitPlanet’s Chief Green Officer. “Anything under half-a-pound is world-class performance for a race of this size.”
Rock ‘n’ Roll Seattle’s commitment to sustainability went beyond the race to include the two-day Health & Fitness Expo at Qwest Event Center. The expo hosted more than a hundred retailers and thousands of visitors over two days and recycled over 5 tons of cardboard, paper, plastics, metal, and other materials, according to Juan Escalante, General Manager, ARAMARK Sports, Entertainment and Conventions, at Qwest Field and Event Center, which manages the complex’s facility services and recycling program.
“Integrating such a comprehensive waste diversion plan into a race of this size and complexity required significant coordination between race operations, waste services providers, facilities management at Qwest Center, and of course the race-day volunteers,” said Rayner. “What we accomplished is a testament to Competitor Group’s commitment to sustainability.”
The Seattle Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon’s green program kicks off a formal relationship between Competitor Group and FitPlanet to develop a long-term sustainability plan for greening the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series and other Competitor Group events.
“Competitor Group is committed to making our events more environmentally sustainable,” said Villatoro. “We are looking forward to working with FitPlanet to create a long-term plan that we’ll roll out over time at all our events.”
