Waste Management Pitches in at the 2012 GO! St. Louis Marathon

PRLog (Press Release) - Apr. 19, 2012 - ST. LOUIS, MO – With more than 15,000 participants, the 2012 GO! St. Louis Marathon was better than ever this year, thanks in part to Waste Management. This year, Waste Management partnered with the GO! St. Louis Marathon’s “Zero Waste Challenge.” Dozens of Waste Management volunteers were stationed throughout the race route, collecting recycled materials, from food waste like bananas and granola bars, to plastic water and sports drink bottles, even cardboard from shipping boxes. More than 90 percent of the runners who signed up for the marathon said it was important for organizers to be environmentally friendly.  

“For those of us volunteering at the marathon, we were pleased with the cleanliness of the material in the recycling containers and the participants desire to make sure they were putting their material in the right bin,” said Kent Harrell, area vice president. “It was clear that the runners wanted to help us make this year’s marathon the greenest ever!”

Marathon officials encouraged participants to take public transportation, used online registration to significantly reduce paper forms, and promoted year-round recycling of paper, aluminum, cardboard and plastics. The overall goal was to reduce and even eliminate waste, effectively minimizing the overall environmental footprint for the annual event.  

Waste Management and its partner, Rock Tenn, recycled all of the food waste, paper cups, plastics and food wrappers after the final runner made it across the finish line. The Waste Management team had special organic recycling toters on site for the food waste. In addition, the WM team went a step further, separating all food waste that was mistakenly thrown into recycle cans by the runners for repurposing.  

At this year’s event, WM collected 6,100 pounds of recycled items, 1,300 pounds of organic material and 2,540 pounds of trash.

ABOUT WASTE MANAGEMENT
Waste Management, based in Houston, Texas, is the leading provider of comprehensive waste management services in North America. Through its subsidiaries, the company provides collection, transfer, recycling and resource recovery, and disposal services. It is also a leading developer, operator and owner of waste-to-energy and landfill gas-to-energy facilities in the United States. The company’s customers include residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers throughout North America. To learn more information about Waste Management visit www.wm.com or www.thinkgreenfromhome.com.

Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/11854169/1