Supplements Two Oceans Marathon Training Guide 2018 | Page 57

ENVIRONMENTAL
Go Green with Two Oceans
All runners taking part in the Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon are urged to make sure they do
not litter on the route on race day, but rather make sure their waste is thrown into the special
#GOGREEN Throw Zones, as this will not only keep the route clean and cut down on the amount of
plastic finding its way into the environment, but will also promote education in the Western Cape.
– BY SEAN FALCONER
T
hroughout South Africa, there is a shortage
of approximately 300,000 school desks, but
thanks to initiatives like the Old Mutual Two
Oceans Marathon #GOGREEN campaign, that number
is starting to come down. In October, the learners of
Ikhaya le Themba school in Imizamo Yethu, Hout Bay,
welcomed 45 new Green Desks, made from non-
organic event waste collected during the 2017 edition
of the OMTOM, and this was just the initial rollout, with
more Green Desks on the way.
The #GOGREEN campaign was developed by
Wildlands, with support from title sponsor Old Mutual
and POLYCO (Polyolefin Recycling Company NPC), a
not-for-profit industry body that aims to achieve greater
diversion of plastics from landfill. The campaign aims
to provide a practical solution for collecting, recycling
and upcycling waste from athletes and spectators
at endurance events, while educating them about
responsible waste management.
Through a combination of grinding and extrusion, and then
squeezing and densifying the waste material into a mould,
planks are produced and used to create school desks, and
since the first ground-breaking Green Desk was unveiled
by Wildlands in June 2016, around 2 000 desks have been
distributed to schools, with more in production.
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
The focus of the campaign was the introduction of large
branded
litter
troughs,
also known
as Green
Zones or
Throw Zones,
along the
route of this
year’s event,
so that runners
could throw away their
waste without littering on the
route. Approximately 16 tons of waste was collected
off the route, some of which is being placed into the
double-seater Green Desks. It takes 60kg of previously
unrecyclable waste to make a two-seater Green Desk,
which means that the manufacture of these initial 45
desks has diverted a total of 2700kg of waste from
landfill, rivers and oceans.
The Two Oceans Marathon Initiative (TOMI) Green
Desks will be distributed to disadvantaged schools in
the Western Cape, and Ikhaya le Themba was chosen
as the first recipient because Imizamo Yethu plays such
a pivotal role in the Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon.
The suburb of Hout Bay lies right next to the Ultra
Marathon route, and the Hout Bay Rotary Club and
Ikhaya le Themba helped to establish an Imizamo Yethu
marshalling team totalling 45 members.
We would like to encourage all
runners to throw their waste in the
#GOGREEN Throw Zones, as well
as the cardboard bins provided. If
every runner does their bit, we can do
great things and make a meaningful
difference. Protecting the environment
is a wonderful way to run for more
than yourself, so let’s #GOGREEN and
ensure that the world’s most beautiful
marathon remains just that.
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