Infineon Raceway has reaffirmed its position as the recycling leader in the motor-sports industry, collecting more than 17 tons of recyclable materials at its major events during the 2008 racing season.
In all, the raceway collected 34,568 pounds of materials at its NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, IndyCar® Series and AMA Superbike Series event weekends. That brings the total to more than 73 tons (147,524 pounds) of recyclable materials since the inception of the program in 2004. The tonnage equates to slightly more than the total weight of a full NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starting field – 43 stock cars.
The breakdown for the 2008 motor-racing season included:
· 18,928 pounds of glass (35,768 glass bottles)
· 13,366 pounds of plastic bottles (179,639 plastic bottles)
· 2,274 pounds of aluminum cans (66,628 cans)
· Total: 34,568 pounds (282,035 beverage containers)
George Mutter, owner of Environmental Event Management Group, based in San Diego, has managed the program at Infineon Raceway since its inception in 2004 and has 27 years of experience in the recycling business.
“This year was really one of our best yet. We added about 20-percent more recycling containers to the facility, and we had additional staff collecting the recycling to help be sure we’re getting as much material as possible,” said Mutter. “We collected about 10-percent more than we did last year, which is a great improvement. Anheuser-Busch still supports us with bins and recycling bags, and they’re a great, positive partner on this program.”
In addition, Safety-Kleen Systems, Inc., which is headquartered in Texas, provides oil recycling and re-refining services to Infineon Raceway, as well as 64 other racetracks/drag strips around the country. Everything that Safety-Kleen collects during an event at Infineon Raceway during its NASCAR, IndyCar and NHRA events, such as motor oil, gasoline or antifreeze, is eventually put back into a usable product. Safety-Kleen makes green work.
“The Green movement is not new to us. We’ve been Green since 1968, when the company started,” said Drew Patey, motorsports manager for Safety-Kleen. “We’re proud to refine over 300 million gallons of used oil a year.”
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