The organizers of the prestigious TCS World 10K Run have taken up various green initiatives during this year’s event, including reduce plastic waste by using biodegradable plates and encouraging participants to bring their own hydration bags and water bottles for the race.
The TCS World 10K Run is a 10km running race that happens in Bengaluru every year in May, which had had 23,000 participants across various categories in 2017. Since the number of runners is increasing every year, the waste generated during the event has become unmanageable. To cope up with this, campaigners on Change.org convinced the organizers Procam International to conduct a waste audit to see the actual amount of waste generated.
After conducting a waste audit, Procam International released the data to public. Around 2,400kg of food waste, 830kgs of PET bottles, 557kgs of Tetrapacks, 500kgs of areca leaf plates and 2,214 of other dry waste were generated at the TCS 10K Run in 2017. After realizing the enormous waste generated, Procam International took up many green initiatives during this year’s event, including water refill stations and biodegradable arecanut plates for post run hot food instead of disposable plastic or paper plates and engaging with a responsible waste vendor named Hasiru Dala and support from Solid Waste Management Round Table volunteers.
The TCS 10K run plastic waste also included 18,000ft of flex banners which, as per the report, were distributed to low income homes as a temporary roofing material. Earlier, other running events had also taken green initiatives to be eco-friendly. Mumbai Marathon and Pinkathon also took up efforts reduce plastic waste.
————————————————–
Date: 26.05.2018 | Source: Change.org