SONOMA, Calif. “” Infineon Raceway stepped up its recycling program during the 2005 Big O Tires Racing Season, and the results were staggering as the raceway generated more than 15 tons of recyclable materials. The raceway recycled 30,952 pounds of materials, more than doubling the facility’s output from 2004 “” 14,799 pounds. Infineon Raceway was recognized for its efforts in 2004 by the State of California Department, Division of Recycling. The raceway began its recycling program in 2004, collecting plastic bottles, aluminum cans and glass at its NASCAR NEXTEL Cup and NHRA POWERade Drag Racing events. Raceway officials intensified the program for 2005, not only adding more points of collection but also including recycling efforts at its Indy Racing League event. “I don’t know if we collected every single bottle and can that was used here this year, but I think we came close,” said Steve Page, president and general manager of Infineon Raceway. “It was a well organized effort and the results were phenomenal.” Infineon Raceway is the only major motor sports facility in the country with a comprehensive recycling program, according to George Mutter, owner of Environmental Event Management Group, based in San Diego. Mutter, who oversaw the program in Sonoma for a second straight year, has directed recycling operations at other NASCAR NEXTEL Cup races as well as the Olympic Games in both Sydney (Australia) and Utah. He has 25 years of experience and serves as a consultant for the International Olympic Committee. “I don’t know of any other track in the country that is doing this as consistently as Infineon Raceway,” Mutter said. “We’ve been received with open arms at the raceway. It’s incredible that they are so open-minded about this sort of thing. Infineon Raceway is truly setting the standard for recycling in this country as it relates to motor sports.” Mutter deployed more than 300 containers around the raceway that were used to collect recyclable materials at each event, and he also employed more than 130 workers each day of each event to sort through refuse, as well as patrol the grounds and grandstands for recyclable materials. Mutter also credited Anheuser-Busch Recycling, which supplied the containers and bags for collection. All the materials collected were also processed at Anheuser-Busch’s recycling plant in Hayward in the East Bay, Mutter said. “If it wasn’t for Anheuser-Busch Recycling, we couldn’t have done this, that’s for sure,” Mutter said. The NASCAR and NHRA events combined for more than 13 tons of recyclable materials alone (26,621 pounds) at Infineon Raceway. The overall breakdown of recyclable materials is as follows for 2005: 12,570 pounds of plastic bottles 4,092 pounds of aluminum cans 14,290 pounds of glass “We were able to collect more than we did last year because we learned the track,” Mutter said. “Guests were also very receptive to our efforts and utilized the bins quite a bit. We had tremendous comments from the guests at all of the events we worked. They were happy to see us recycling.”
© , Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.