The Pennsylvania Resources Council (PRC) presented a “Zero Waste Excellence Award” to Pittsburgh Three Rivers Marathon, Inc. (P3R) in recognition of their commitment to minimizing the amount of solid waste sent to area landfills during the 2017 DICK’S Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon weekend of events. P3R was one of only two organizations to achieve a gold standard in the category.
The 2017 DICK’S Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon weekend of events achieved a 90 percent diversion rate. While Zero Waste can be a difficult goal to reach, approximately 20.39 tons of waste avoided the landfill last year through source reduction, composting, recycling and food rescue. This is the third year in a row the event has successfully diverted 90 percent or more of its waste from landfills.
“Since 2011, we have partnered with the PRC in our ‘race to zero waste’ during the annual DICK’S Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon weekend of events,” said Dee Stathis, P3R COO/Director of Marketing and Operations. “Additionally, P3R is proud to collaborate with government agencies, large corporations, small businesses and nonprofit organizations to use the same sustainability model throughout our year-round calendar of events.”
Race organizers like P3R face many challenges when creating a sustainability plan for a 26.2-mile race that annually attracts over 40,000 participants, 4,000 volunteers and 200,000 spectators. The organization would not be able to achieve its sustainability goals without the support of community partners like Peoples Natural Gas. Like P3R, Peoples is a passionate advocate for sustainability practices and recently signed on as the Official Partner of the DICK’S Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon Greening and Sustainability Initiatives.
“Peoples applauds P3R for their environmental efforts, and we are proud to support their greening and sustainability initiatives for the 2018 race weekend,” said Morgan O’Brien, President & CEO of Peoples. “We aim to be an environmental leader. That is why we are working toward innovative approaches to use clean natural gas in conjunction with solar, wind and other renewable technologies, as well as the use of fuel cells to create the energy we need today with a smaller environmental impact on tomorrow. We want to support others like P3R who are also taking action to make our environment better.”
The success of P3R’s sustainability efforts demonstrates the importance of efficient pre-event planning and creative operational improvements. In an effort to achieve an even more successful Zero Waste event in the future, P3R will continue diverting and reducing its waste through collective, cohesive and streamlined approaches with the help of PRC and community partners like Peoples.
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About the Pennsylvania Resource Council (PRC) and Zero Waste Pennsylvania
Zero Waste Pennsylvania (ZWPA) is a project of the Pennsylvania Resources Council. In 2009 Zero Waste Pittsburgh (ZWP) was enacted to provide waste reduction services and resources in Western Pennsylvania as a community need. Today, Zero Waste Pennsylvania provides waste reduction techniques to various commercial businesses, residential entities, institutions, and special events across the state. Over the years, ZWPA’s services have been utilized by a wide demographic, ranging from the individual persons to multiple Fortune 500 Companies such as FedEx Ground and Westinghouse Electric. ZWPA and PRC pride themselves with many years of applied expertise in developing creative Zero Waste solutions.
