FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AFMInc Launches Pilot Heatsheets® Recycling Program
Tests at six fall marathons will contribute to the development of a
recycling protocol for low density polyethylene at road races across the
U.S.
September 10, 2008, Petaluma, CA: AFMInc President and Chief Operating
Officer, Stephanie Deigan, announced today a recycling pilot project she
described as "well underway." The intent of the project is to develop and
provide extensive guidelines to running events of all sizes for the
recycling of their plastic waste, including AFM's highly visible
Heatsheets-on-a-Roll™ finish line and aid-station heat-reflective plastic
blankets.
Six marathons of various sizes, representing a wide range of U.S. recycling
markets, were selected from AFMInc's Heatsheets customer base to
participate in this fall's pilot project, including: the Portland Marathon,
October 5th in Portland, OR; the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon, October
5th in Minneapolis-Saint Paul, MN; the ING Hartford Marathon, October 11th
in Hartford, CT; the Mohawk Hudson River Marathon, October 12th from
Schenectady to Albany, NY; the IMT Des Moines Marathon, October 19th in Des
Moines, IA; and the Nike Women's Marathon, October 19th in San Francisco,
CA.
AFMInc founder and CEO David Deigan, who has taken direct management
responsibility for the project, reflects back upon the "aha" moment that
convinced him that something had to be done: "Our product is one of the
most prominent products at the finish line of long distance running events,
especially marathons. A couple of years ago, at what is now the Bank of
America Chicago Marathon, I noticed there were three or four dumpsters full
of Heatsheets destined for the landfill, and it was really a wake-up call.
I was genuinely shocked by what I saw, so I started trying to figure out
what we, as a company, could do to change our impact on the sport."
Deigan added: "The challenge was dealing with the non-recyclable metallized
Mylar® material those Heatsheets were made from." The search for, and
testing of, alternate materials started shortly thereafter, and ultimately
led Deigan to the proprietary formulation of low density polyethylene that
today's recyclable Heatsheets are made from.
If the dumpsters in Chicago were the "aha" moment, the tipping point came
last fall in the form of a call to Deigan from Virginia Brophy Achman,
Executive Director of Twin Cities Marathon, Inc. Achman had been approached
by a local marathon runner, Jon Stein, who was convinced that discarded
Heatsheets were recyclable. What's more, he volunteered to personally guide
the project for her.
Stein had retired from a family-owned company that began reusing and
recycling things 100 years ago, filling the gaps in wooden barrels with
reeds so they could be reused to store and transport linseed oil. Jon
subsequently returned from retirement to guide the family tradition in a
new direction: finding markets for the category 3 through 6 recyclable
plastics that traditional waste management companies struggle to segregate
and reprocess. Through Stein's efforts, Consolidated Container Company is
forging strategic relationships with waste management companies as an ally,
rather than as a competitor, to develop options for recycling what is now
one of the most ubiquitous forms of solid waste-plastics like Polyvinyl
Chloride, Low Density Polyethylene, Polypropylene and Polystyrene.
Energized by the dialogue with Brophy Achman and Stein, and what he learned
attending several sustainability conferences, including Road Race
Managements "How Green is My Event Workshop," this past spring, Deigan
convinced AFMInc's board that an aggressive approach to recycling was
essential, and that work needed to begin immediately. Reaching out to
Eco-Logistics, a consultancy focused on helping participant sporting events
become more environmentally responsible, the senior Deigan asked for help
developing a systematic approach for recycling Heatsheets. Thus, the pilot
project was born.
While Stein will lead the pilot effort at the Medtronic Twin Cities
Marathon, the other five participating pilot events will receive direct
guidance from Eco-Logistics waste management expert Lee Barrett, including
Barrett's personal involvement with local solid waste management companies
and film plastics processors to ensure the objectives of the program are
achieved. Barrett will also provide the link between events to allow best
practices to be shared. PR support will be provided to each pilot event by
Lee's partner, Keith Peters.
AFMInc and Eco-Logistics will take the findings from the pilot projects and
develop detailed recycling protocols to address the opportunities and
challenges running events of all sizes will face as they develop programs
for recycling LDPE. Recycling protocols should be available by the end of
the year on www.Heatsheets.com. There will be no charge for the PDF format
document, and events will not need to be a customer of AFM to download the
information.
AFMInc looks forward to expanding its Heatsheets recycling program to
include the nation's mega-marathons next year.
For more information about the Heatsheets recycling pilot project, contact
Keith Peters at (307) 690.6803, or .
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