Sustainability at Queenstown Marathon
IRONMAN Oceania is committed to a robust sustainability plan, a key part of which is post-event clean-up of any waste, whether it is directly related to the event itself or not. This applies to any event under our management, not just the Queenstown Marathon.
All of the plastic cups used on event are part of that sustainability plan and are made from high-quality recycled PET, meaning it can be recycled over and over again.
As is the case on all IRONMAN managed events, the clean up of the entire 42km course and venues used on the Queenstown Marathon continued throughout today (final sweeps take place Sunday), with the Course Director leading the course sweep to ensure that we remove any impact or footprint of the race. This is normal practice at all of our events to work closely with all of our stakeholders, participants and contractors to remove any impact we have made on the environment.
100% of that waste is then sorted back of house, to ensure that the material is separated and sent on to the appropriate destination. By using the one high-quality recycled rPET material for the cups the event ensures there is no cross-contamination at aid stations with other waste streams, with the rPET cups taken to Flight Plastics in Wellington for processing. All other waste from the event is sorted into correct streams, including banana skins being sent to Wormworx for composting to minimize landfill.
IRONMAN Oceania is in year two of a five-year plan to minimize waste and the impact on the environment, that plan is constantly being updated and changed to reflect gains in science and accepted best practice in this area.
Other measures introduced in 2019/2020 include:
- All aid station cups completely rPET 100% recyclable across the course
- Onsite free water stations at Recreation Ground and we encourage you to bring a reusable personal water bottles
- All gear bags for competitors are reusable tote bags
- 3 bin waste stream system with all waste (waste, recycling, organics) and Waste Warriors onsite at Queenstown Recreation Ground to ensure waste is correctly sorted
- Phasing out of plastic ties – reusable toggles used on all banner-mesh advertising
- Waste Warriors will be on Queenstown Recreation Ground separating waste into the correct streams
- All banana skins from Recovery will be taken to the Cromwell worm farm
- Request all our athlete material: tote bags, medals to not be individually wrapped in plastic
- All race bags are flyer-free
