Sustainability manager at Plastics SA, John Kieser, says the aim of the association's involvement in this annual race is to ensure that the waste is collected, removed and recycled in line with the overall goals of the marathon's environmental policy.
"Our involvement in this and other major sporting events held in Cape Town, such as the Pick n Pay Cape Argus Cycle Race, helps to raise awareness of the issue of littering and the fact that plastic waste, in particular, should be recycled as it is too valuable to waste," Kieser says.
Plastics SA employed a team of 120 workers from the Ocean View and Masipumelela communities for the duration of the race day. "By now we have developed a group of well-trained and experienced waste collectors who also helped us in previous years' Two Oceans Marathons and other high profile sporting events, making light work of what many would consider an impossible task," he adds.
The team focussed their efforts in particular on picking up the litter that were strewn outside refreshment points, in areas of high spectator concentration and at refreshment points. "The clean-up crews were divided into various teams, including a primary event sweep team, a main event team, a final sweep team and even a final, post-event cable tie team that had to remove all the cable ties left behind by the contractors on route," Kieser explains.
Once everything was collected, the litter was sorted into four different materials, namely plastic (90% of waste collected, primarily LD), glass 95%), paper (10%) and metal (5%). As in previous years, Plastics SA once again partnered with WastePlan for the recycling of the waste.
"Our participation provides a unique platform for the plastics industry to showcase its commitment to reaching our sustainability initiatives in a very practical and relevant way. We are committed to reaching our objective of sending zero plastics waste to landfill. By increasing total waste-to-recycling figures each year, we are helping to make sure the Two Oceans Marathon maintains its reputation for being 'The world's most beautiful marathon'," Kieser concludes.
