Special Event Programs:

Special event recycling programs are challenging to successfully design and implement, due to the transitional nature of the audience, the inability to pilot programs prior to implementation, and the security concerns that result in restrictions placed upon the recycling collection program. To implement a recycling system, the following tasks are required:

• Development of the recycling program
• Design of a training program
• Training of all volunteers who assist in delivery of the recycling program throughout the event
• Design of an effective, graphic education program, which would be universally understood
• Implementation and management of the recycling infrastructure
  
  

The first large special event recycling program ever held was at the 1991 Special Olympics in Minneapolis, Minnesota. RDC was retained by James River Corporation to design, implement and operate this system. The event included over 30 different venues in an area of approximately 625 square miles, utilizing over 250 volunteers and serving 20,000 athletes and 300,000 spectators.

RDC Group's successful involvement in this new type of recycling led to several other similar special event recycling programs including the 1992 Super Bowl in Minneapolis, and the 1992 Earth Summit in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

In 1994, RDC carried out all planning and design work for the largest event recycling program in the world, at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. Involving 20,000 special bins placed at 200 venues throughout Georgia and Tennessee, more than 20 million cans and bottles were captured for recycling, and much of the discarded food waste was composted. At its peak, the Olympic system diverted more than 80% of all solid waste generated by the millions of spectators and more than 50,000 athletes and journalists from around the world.

The RDC Group also worked with the Salt Lake Olympic Committee and Green Valley Recycling & Composting on design and implementation for the 2002 Winter Games.

group@rdc-group.com