Vineman Furthers Its Green Initiative in 2009
The 2009 Vineman race season is about to kick off and we hope to be even "greener" this year. We ask for you help in making this as successful as possible.
What Vineman did in 2008 to be a “greener” race.
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Recycled all plastic one use bottles as well as all cans and glass bottles.
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Collected ,washed and donated to Girls On The Run all bike bottles from the Full Vineman.
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Recycled all cardboard boxes.
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Recycle all energy bar wrappers (through TerraCycle’s “wrapper brigade”). In 2008 we collected over 2000 entergy bar wrappers which were mailed back to TerraCycle (www.terracycle.net)
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Composted fruit scraps from fruit used on the run course and in the food tent.
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Athlete goody bags were reusable shopping bags..replacing the plastic bags used in the past.
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Created reusable signage for the tranistion areas.
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Eliminated one use water bottles at the finish line. (Eliminated the paper cups at the Full Vineman Finish Line)
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Used compostable plates and napkins in the food tent.
- Had a recycle bin at the swimgear pick up area for athletes to recycle their swim bag. These bags are made from 65% recycled plastic and are printed using water base inks. The bags are made by EARTHPACK, a company in Irvine, CA that has been making recycled bags since 1990.
- Used solar power at both the Vineman Ironman 70.3 and Full Vineman during the expo and on race day.
In 2009 Vineman will continue with these same practices and will be adding the following:
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Do away with goody bags and all the paper that comes with them! Yes, that's right. After consulting with Bruce Rayner at Athletes For A Fit Planet we have decided to be the front runners in this. Back in the day, goody bags were just that...they had all kinds of cool stuff in them. Nowadays, their contents are mostly paper. So, what Vineman has decided to do is set up "information" tables at the entrance to the registration area. On these tables will be the brochures,flyers and samples that would have been in your bag. This way you are able to pick what information you want to take with you. All leftover materials will be returned to sponsors and vendors for their future use.
- Teaming up with TerraCycle. Vineman will continue collecting and recycling the energy bar and granola bar wrappers at our events. This year TerraCycle will be providing collection boxes and posters to make it more visible where you can recycle these wrappers! For each wrapper that we recycle, 2 cents gets donated to the Sonoma County Bike Coalition.
- Eco-friendly merchandise and competitor shirts. Vineman has teamed up with Green Layer out of Portland, OR to bring some ecofriendly clothing to the events. Green layer has clothing made from recycled polyester, Bamboo Charcoal, Organic cotton, Soy and Cocona. They will be supplying our competitor shirts as well as the bulk of our Vineman merchandise.
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Carpooling to Vineman. We have teamed up with PickUp Pal to encourage athletes who are driving to the race (I know there are lots of you!!) to carpool. With PickUp Pal you can let people know that you have space and let people know that you are looking for a ride.
We have some other things in the works at the moment and will keep everyone posted as these evolve. If you have any ideas to help in our green initiative or want to get involved please email Amy at amy@vineman.com
What you can do to help us and help the planet:
Carpool to the event and/or the race sites when possible: http://www.pickuppal.com/pup/erp/Vineman-Races
Calculate and offset your carbon emissions through Bonneville Environmental Foundation, http://www.b-e-f.org/index.shtm
Bring a reusable water bottle with you and use it throughout the weekend.
Be sure to put recyclables, garbage, and compost in the proper bins at the race venues.
Help us out with the “wrapper brigade” and recycle your energy bar and granola bar wrappers in bins provided and marked as such. To find out more about the wrapper brigade go to: www.terracycle.net
