Some organizations are choosing earth-healthier alternatives to single-use products that can end in a landfill.
Runner’s World | December 2021
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When Kristina Smithe flew across the country from Florida to California to run a marathon in 2019, she was disturbed by the amount of cups she’d used to consume water and coffee over the course of her entire trip. Including flights and the race, she estimates using something in the ballpark of 20 single-use cups.
When Smithe, 31, thought about the thousands of runners who finished the marathon and the relay for the event, as well as the cheering spectators and volunteers, she couldn’t help but consider the amount of waste the runners and the event must have created. Start pondering the races that happen every weekend—from small local 5Ks to larger events in big cities—and the environmental impact can start to feel staggering for any runner who wants to help our planet.
When it comes to putting on road races, there’s no doubt these events create lots of waste if done without sustainability in mind; printed flyers, route-marking flags, and Styrofoam plates are among the race-organization staples that eventually reach the dump. Compostable cups (as we discuss below) are a positive alternative but require transport to and processing at a commercial compost facility. Single-use plastic, which is difficult or impossible to recycle, is even worse and often ends in landfills or waterways.
Just consider this on plastics: The U.S. produces more unreclaimed plastic waste than any other country on the planet by a massive margin across various metrics, according to a 2021 report published by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Though only 4.3 percent of the global population resides on U.S. soil, each person accumulates 287 pounds of plastic waste per year: 42 million metric tons (MMT) of the world’s 242 MMT, says the report.
But a common chord we heard from the race directors when it comes to sustainability is they seek a balance between facilitating high-quality experiences and sustainable practices. Popular road races in the U.S. typically provide certain amenities to the paying participants, such as T-shirts, medals, “swag bags” filled with coupons and freebies, and disposable single-use cups of water along the race course.
Yes, the onus should be on participants, as well, to follow Leave No Trace outdoor ethics, the seven principles that help guide backcountry etiquette and federal law. Runners could withhold from tossing apparel at the start line or refuse to take disposable cups on the course, instead carrying their own forms of hydration bottles. Athletes can also wear running belts to hold trash, such as empty gel packets and wrappers, some of which are recyclable.
But even more of the burden falls on the race organizers to offer more sustainable alternatives. Some races have taken steps in this direction by asking participants to bring their own hydration bottles, charging runners extra for medals and T-shirts (or eliminating the option altogether), and/or creating a digital-only swag bag.
This amount of disposability begs the question: Are these patterns of excessive litter creation avoidable? Here are six ways races are moving toward being more environmentally friendly.
Use Reusable Cups at Water Stations
Some events have experimented with using reusable cups, such as the North Face Endurance Challenge Series. Before the pandemic, it partnered with HydraPak to utilize reusable cups at five ultra-distance trail races countrywide, keeping 140,000 cups from the garbage, according to The North Face.
After running her marathon, Smithe launched Hiccup Earth, a rental service that provides reusable 8-ounce silicone cups for running events nationwide, in February 2020. Since the company’s debut two years ago, 30 races have used the bright blue vessels, saving thousands of cups from landfills and recycling centers.
Hiccup Earth provides reusable cups for the St. Pete Run Fest. COURTESY KRISTINA SMITHE
The St. Pete Run Fest in St. Petersburg, Florida, rented 26,000 reusable Hiccup Earth cups to serve racers water (replacing the race’s former compostable cups) on the course during the two-day, four-distance event on November 13-14. (The race still used the Gatorade-branded bamboo compostable cups to serve the sports drink.) Out of the 6,000 participants, no criticism was delivered about the reusable cups, and many racers wrote notes of gratitude for the sustainable upgrade.
“We had a 65 percent reduction of compost cups, which takes time to deliver postrace and decomposes slow,” St. Pete Run Fest cofounder Ryan Jordan told Runner’s World. “Renting reusable cups was operationally, efficiently beneficial for us. It made our lives easier, and the change was financially neutral.”
Use Compostable or Biodegradable Cups
Compostable cups are another option to help races lessen the impact on the earth. However, getting those single-use cups to a proper commercial composting facility can be a time-consuming (think: volunteers sorting compost from the recycling and waste bins) and expensive process, noted Jordan, and not all race host sites have access to processing centers.
The California International Marathon (CIM) offers compostable cups on course to more than 8,000 runners, but also hydration refill stations at all aid stops on course and provides bins for TerraCycle collection, a partnership with GU Energy Labs for recycling the gel packets. CIM also received Gold-level certification by the Council for Responsible Sport in 2017 and 2019.
“CIM diverts over 7,000 pounds (about 75 percent) of waste from landfills at our event through our sophisticated and systematic sustainability practices,” said Scott Abbott, executive director for CIM. “We spend tens of thousands of dollars to not only purchase compostable cups, but also to ship those cups to a facility that can compost them, as our region does not have the infrastructure to compost such cups.”
In 2019, the 37,000-registrant Xiamen Marathon in Xiamen, China, implemented close to one million biodegradable cups, made from maize straw, and banned single-use plastic bottles.
The Rock ’n’ Roll Running Series stocks close to 100,000 biodegradable cups per event and stashes the leftovers in warehouses for upcoming races. Additionally, this year, Rock ‘n’ Roll events started encouraging racers to be self-reliant by carrying their own nutrition and hydration with a personal water bottle, hydration vest, or belt in order to decrease waste. But it’s optional.
“There’s a balance that we have to work through with experience, quality, sustainability, and ensuring the communities we are in want us to come back,” Keats McGonigal, vice president, operations, North America, Rock ’n’ Roll Running Series told Runner’s World.
The 2019 London Marathon offered thousands of energy drink-filled Oohos pouches at an aid station. Oohos is an edible plant-based packaging that also biodegrades, developed by the U.K.-based company Notpla.
The Boston Athletic Association (BAA), which puts on the Boston Marathon every year, plans to introduce compostable cups, though was unable to confirm the timeline. “There are a few challenges, such as getting the right cup product and finding partners who can compost the cups,” Chris Lotsbom, communications and media manager of the BAA, told Runner’s World.
Or, Use No Cups at All
A handful of races simply don’t offer cups on the course. At the Wild Woman Marathon, 50K, Half Marathon, and 7-miler events, held in Trout Lake, Washington, the organizers do not provide cups or plates and instead ask participants to bring their own plate and fork for the postrace lunch. The cup-free Sports Backers Marathon, in Virginia, is lined with touch-free bottle refill stations every several miles, for racers to top off their own hydration system.
The High Lonesome 100, a 100-mile high-altitude ultramarathon with 23,500 feet of vertical gain in Colorado, has also been cup-free since day one, in 2017.
“It’s low-cost for people to bring their preferred cup and never caused contention,” Kelsey Banaszynski, operations director and co-owner of the High Lonesome 100, told Runner’s World. As backup, they stock each aid station with reusable dishes—cups, bowls, silverware— and volunteers clean the dishes in between use.
“I understand the desire to fall back on disposable cups whether they’re recyclable or compostable, but going cup-less is not a hard behavior to ask volunteers or racers to do,” Caleb Efta—the race director, founder, and co-owner of the High Lonesome 100—told Runner’s World.
Don’t Provide T-shirts to Participants
Yes, T-shirts offer promotion of the race, and allow events to fulfill sponsor requirements by putting a logo on it. But if a race is looking to be more environmentally friendly, the T-shirt is a place to cut back.
We’re now seeing some events charge extra for a race T-shirt, which can make runners really think whether they want another to add to their collection. Other events have done away with them altogether.
In order to cut down on that environmental impact, Trees Not Tees (TNT)—a U.K.-based program organized by the Future Forest Company, which develops reforestation projects on degraded land to protect biodiversity and remove carbon from the atmosphere—works with race organizers to give runners the option to plant a tree instead of receiving a race T-shirt.
The St. Pete Run Fest partners with TNT, and Arell is considering partnering with them next year.
“Currently participants can forgo their T-shirts, but taking it a step further for a net positive effect on our environment is the next step I’d like to go,” Arell said.
In order to cut down on that environmental impact, Trees Not Tees (TNT)—a U.K.-based program organized by the Future Forest Company, which develops reforestation projects on degraded land to protect biodiversity and remove carbon from the atmosphere—works with race organizers to give runners the option to plant a tree instead of receiving a race T-shirt.
The St. Pete Run Fest partners with TNT, and Arell plans to partner with them next year.
“Currently participants can forgo their T-shirts, but taking it a step further for a net positive affect on our environment is the next step I’d like to go,” Arell said.
Reconsider Packaging, Food Waste, and Waste Diversion
Beyond cup management, races can tighten up their product orders to prevent food and packaging waste and closely monitor waste diversion systems.
“One of the biggest ways that we keep our waste down at aid stations and waste streams separate is by data collection, and volunteer and racer education. I do inventory at each aid station before and after to know how much was used and try to not over-buy,” Banaszynski said.
Efta adds that the High Lonesome 100 reuses its course markings, which are made with clothespins and reflectors. “It’s not a significant cost, but a lot of waste is created from plastic tape and survey flags, which most races chuck.” Efta said.
Similarly, the BAA recently added 12 zero-waste stations at the start and finish, where volunteers sort waste from recyclables and compostables: 39.5 tons was diverted from landfills in 2019. Also that year, the BAA donated 41,000 pounds of clothing left at the start of the race—the weight of roughly 40 male polar bears—from some 30,000 racers to Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.
The Rock ’n’ Roll Running Series works with local agencies to give leftover nutritional product to the community and abandoned clothing to shelters, says McGonigal.
To hone a waste diversion plan and improve sustainable race management, the St. Pete Run Fest hired a consultant to measure the race waste that goes to landfill, compost, and recycling year-over-year. The expert also provides other recommendations such as how to educate racers about recycling and what type of race shirt is the most eco-friendly based on how the materials decompose.
Carbon Offsets
Traveling to and from races leaves a giant footprint, and races could incentivize local registrations to help lower race-caused carbon emissions, Efta noted. For instance, events could offer discounts or priority registration for local athletes such as an early bird sign-up at a kickoff social event before the online registration opens. Ultrarunning races could devote higher lottery odds for participants who don’t bring pacers or crews.
Race volunteers tend to be locals, and offering them a lottery boost can overlap community building with sustainability, Efta added. Such guidelines have “good implications for reducing the overall scale of events. If you don’t have pacers or crew members, you don’t have additional people eating food and contributing to the overall waste, for instance,” Efta said.
Next year, Efta plans to introduce carbon offsets that can be integrated into the High Lonesome 100 registration price.These offsets compensate for emissions output. For a race like the High Lonesome 100, it would first work with a carbon footprint consultant to evaluate the event’s total footprint then strategize reduction methods such as carbon offsets through verified, measurable projects offered by certified providers.
“Carbon offsets don’t stop carbon consumption, but it can help,” Efta said, “As the climate crisis continues to expand, there will have to be more emphasis on racing local than a lot of us are willing to do.”
Correction: A previous version of this article implied that Kristina Smithe used single-use plastic cups during her marathon in 2019. In fact, the race offered single-use compostable cups.
