By Hannah Bonnie
With U.S. Track and Field Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon, a city that prides itself on its sustainability efforts, Tracktown USA wanted to make the event environmentally friendly. Every couple of feet on Agate Street, which runs next to the stadium, were compost and recycling trash cans. There was also a booth called We Can!, where fans could learn about sustainability in a fun and interactive way.
In the booth were videos about compost and various other topics and a stationary bike that children could ride to “create fuel.” We Can! designed a scavenger hunt where participants were asked to take pictures of themselves completing tasks relating to sustainability, such as visiting a water filling station to refill a reusable water bottle.
Working at the booth as a volunteer was master recycler Jan Sherman. To become a master recycler, she had to attend a nine-week course at Oregon State University, where she learned about subjects like recycling and compost.
“I love the Earth; I always have,” said Sherman. “I want the Earth to be better than it was. When I was growing up in Los Angeles, you couldn’t see your hand out in front of your face because of the smog.”
Sherman has been dedicated to helping the environment since she was a teenager. She is now 56. She particularly advocates for the use of reusable water bottles, since they are such an easy way to cut back on waste. She believes that there is no reason for people not to use them.
We Can! is just one thing TrackTown USA is doing to make the trials a environmentally responsible event. They hope to be certified by the Council of Responsible Sports, a non-profit organization dedicated to lessening the impact that sporting events have on the environment.
There are four levels of certification an event can achieve: certified, silver, gold and evergreen. To reach each level, an event must hit a certain number of certification standards, which is anything from developing a plan to reduce the environmental impact (which is mandatory if an event wants to be certified) to choosing a site that allows those with disabilities to attend. When these standards are met, events can receive credits.
Evergreen is the highest level of certification, and it is very difficult to accomplish. To reach Evergreen, an event must collect more than 55 credits, which is about 90 percent of the criteria. But TrackTown has accomplished this feat before, during the 2016 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Portland.
One thing both the indoor championships and the Olympic trials have done to eliminate waste was to give all their volunteers a reusable water bottle with the TrackTown logo, which both gave people a memento and to discouraged them from using single use water bottles.
“They have been shown to be a massive waste for both water itself in their production and transportation, but also oil,” said Shelley Villalobos, managing director of the council of responsible sport, who played volleyball at the University of Oregon and has combined her two loves, sports and sustainability, by being involved with the council.
Another thing that TrackTown is doing is making the trials zero waste, meaning that every material sold at the trials should be compostable. To do this, they have partnered with Love Food Not Waste, a company that is processing compost and reusing it by turning it into soil, which would later be sold by places like Jerry’s Home Improvement. The eating options that have been present at the FanFest, such as Hot Mama’s Wings and Ninkasi Brewing Company, were not chosen randomly; they are Love Food Not Waste businesses.
“There’s a loop happening rather than a traditional model of the 20th century, which was take, make and waste,” said Villalobos. Now, she said people are working towards reusing what they take by making it into something else, like soil.
According to Villalobos, food waste makes up the biggest piece of landfill, somewhere between 30 to 40 percent. Making sure that there is zero waste from the trials would really help the environment.
“I think a lot of business people recognize that it’s time for businesses to not just do well, but to also do good,” she said
In Eugene, the citizens’ love for the environment is obvious; bike lanes and buses run through everywhere, encouraging residents to use transportation that doesn’t emit so much carbon. At the trials, to encourage this type of transportation, there are fenced off areas where people can safely keep their bikes.
“People who live here tend to love their environment,” said Sherman. “I moved here because it gives so much.”
For Eugene to become an example for other cities, the city is hosting the Responsible Sport Event Summit, an event separate from the Olympic trials. Even though it is a separate event, waste prevention and green building manager, Ethan Nelson, said that he wanted the summit to align with the trials.
“The trials has been doing a lot of great work around putting on sustainable events and having a positive impact on the community,” said Nelson.
City representatives from major cities such as Washington D.C.; Richmond, Virginia; Chicago and many others are coming to Eugene for this summit. They will share ways that cities can put on responsible events.
For example, Richmond hosted the 2015 World Cycling Championships. At the time, they wanted to invest in increasing bike lanes and security, but never did. Before the championships, they installed about 500 new bike rakes and 10 miles of lanes. “The outcome is that their community will now have greater bike infrastructure, which leads to a healthier community,” said Nelson.
Sporting events tend to use up a lot of resources. For that reason, sustainability is very important. To make that event more environmentally friendly lessens the impact that it will have.
Villalobos noted that obviously the most sustainable event is one that never occurs in the first place. “But you think of a world without sporting events, and I don’t want to live in that world,” she said. “There’s something within us that strives for greatness, and I think sport gets to the heart of that.”
