Two events, Airtel Delhi Half Marathon (By Procam International) and Bengaluru Marathon (NEB sports) were held on the same day, 21st October 2018, albeit in two different cities. Here is the brief analysis of their waste stats.

Airtel Delhi Half marathon (ADHM) -

Participants - Official numbers not known.

Waste report at - https://adhm.procamrunning.in/static-assets/pdf/waste-management.pdf

• Participants were asked to carry their own bottle and refill. It is not known whether the event had specific refill arrangements for those who chose to carry their own bottles.
• Food was served on bio-degradable arecanut plates instead of plastic plates or bags. 
• Banners were kept at the event to make runners aware about waste segregation and littering. There were segregated bins as per the above report. 
• Bio-waste from the toilets was accounted for and sent to an STP.
• 410 kgs of single use plastic bottles, equivalent to 60,000 numbers was generated at the event. Although this waste is recyclable, it will not be recycled into another bottle but into clothing items. The recycling of plastic and incorporation of synthetic fibres into clothing items is known to be hugely problematic due to microfibre pollution it leads to. https://storyofstuff.org/blog/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-microfiber-pollution/
• Flex banners - Nearly 3 tonnes of this waste was produced in this event. Unfortunately, flex is non-recyclable and can only be re-purposed into temporary roofing sheets for low income groups. I was surprised to know from Mr. Venkat who collects and donates the flex to slum dwellers in Bangalore, that the life-span of this material is 6-12 months only!

Bengaluru Marathon (BM)

Participants - 16200

Waste report at https://drive.google.com/open?id=17htj0aRlBVpblUJX3zkY2GlSXvEUFu0f

• No disposable bottles were used in this event. The entire event was managed by reusable hard plastic cups and refill stations, as a result there was no litter on the road that had to be cleared or managed.
• Limited number of tetrapaks were used for electrolytes, although refill stations were also providing electrolytes in reusable cups..
• Freshly cooked meals were served on melamine plates and steel cutlery. Cut fruits were given out on leaf ‘donnais’.
• Zero flex banners. All banners were printed on cloth as flex is now banned in Karnataka. All canvas used at the event was sent for upcycling into cloth bags. Kudos to the organizers for the great move. This eliminated more than a tonne of non-recyclable flex.
• It is noteworthy that less than 220 kgs of miscellaneous dry waste was produced in this event.

Summarising Key differences of ADHM vs BM

1. Drastic difference in the generation of flex waste - 3 tonnes vs none.
2. Drastic difference in dry waste quantum - 2880 vs ~200 kgs.
3. ADHM needed 300 waste handlers. Big part of their job is to pick plastic bottles and tetrapaks thrown by the runners on the entire 21km route. On the other hand, 4 Field Staff, 1 Supervisor, Project manager (apart from event volunteers) was all of the dedicated manpower needed to manage the waste produced at Bengaluru marathon as the quantum of waste was greatly eliminated due to reusable cups and waste generation was largely limited to the venue near the food area.

It is easily visible from this comparison, how taking a few steps upfront can cut down waste at source and reduce the effort required to manage it besides making it far more environment friendly. Can Bengaluru marathon be greener? Of course! But ADHM needs to catch up on waste reduction aspect.