48 of South Africa’s top corporates and organizations went the extra mile this year, by being part of the Ultimate Human Race and supplying the manpower to operate the scores of refreshment tables along the iconic Comrades route.
Three of the 48 companies were selected by way of maintaining Comrades’ ‘green ethos’ in terms of recycling the waste and litter generated by the thousands of Comrades runners. All things considered, the accolade for greenest refreshment table was awarded to Sasol, followed by Eskom in second place with the Lions Club of Cowies Hill coming in third.
The green monitoring was carried out by the KwaZulu-Natal EnviroServ recycling division, which once again assisted in greening the world’s biggest ultra-marathon. Thanks to the amazing recycling work of Enviroserv, 58% of the waste generated on Race Day ended up getting recycled. This was a huge improvement compared to previous years, which saw 43% recycled in 2010 and 31% in 2009.
Ely Devellennes, Regional Recycling Manager of EnviroServ says: ‘2011 was another successful recycling experience for the Comrades Marathon, together with EnviroServ. This is our third year of running this green initiative and we have achieved our 50% rate. Well done to all who did their bit for the environment.’
The winning SASOL table was positioned at Umlaas Road intersection. In keeping with The Ultimate Human Race’s green values and its bid to host a clean, environmentally-friendly event, SASOL was on-the-ball in ensuring a hygienic, healthy space for runners, spectators and road users alike as well as minimizing our carbon footprint.
To thank SASOL, Eskom, Lions Club of Cowies Hill and other do-gooders for their outstanding recycling and greening efforts, the CMA hosted a Prize-giving ceremony at 14h00 on Thursday, 22.9.2011 at Comrades House in Pietermaritzburg. SASOL received the EnviroServ floating trophy with ‘green certificates’ for the second and third-placed awardees.
CMA Race Director Johan van Staden says: ‘We pride ourselves in going greener year on year and value the many organizations which come on board with the CMA to further our green vision.’
Statement released on Wednesday, 21 September 2011