If you visited this Web site over the summer and wondered what Lee and I were up to, thanks for coming back. Even though you might have thought we lost the plot, we’ve been quite busy. It’s just that our work with clients wasn’t far enough along to shout about–most of it still isn’t.

We are, however, pleased to be able to announce our involvement in AFMInc’s pilot project for recycling Heatsheets. Here’s a press release that went out today:

AFMInc Launches Pilot Heatsheets® Recycling Program

Tests at six fall marathons will contribute to the development of a recycling protocol for low density polyethylene at road races across the U.S.

September 10, 2008, Petaluma, CA: AFMInc President and Chief Operating Officer, Stephanie Deigan, announced today a recycling pilot project she described as “well underway.” The intent of the project is to develop and provide extensive guidelines to running events of all sizes for the recycling of their plastic waste, including AFM’s highly visible Heatsheets-on-a-Roll™ finish line and aid-station heat-reflective plastic blankets.

Six marathons of various sizes, representing a wide range of U.S. recycling markets, were selected from AFMInc’s Heatsheets customer base to participate in this fall’s pilot project, including: the Portland Marathon, October 5th in Portland, OR; the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon, October 5th in Minneapolis-Saint Paul, MN; the ING Hartford Marathon, October 11th in Hartford, CT; the Mohawk Hudson River Marathon, October 12th from Schenectady to Albany, NY; the IMT Des Moines Marathon, October 19th in Des Moines, IA; and the Nike Women’s marathon, October 19th in San Francisco, CA.

AFMInc founder and CEO David Deigan, who has taken direct management responsibility for the project, reflects back upon the “aha” moment that convinced him that something had to be done: “Our product is one of the most prominent products at the finish line of long distance running events, especially marathons. A couple of years ago, at what is now the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, I noticed there were three or four dumpsters full of Heatsheets destined for the landfill, and it was really a wake-up call. I was genuinely shocked by what I saw, so I started trying to figure out what we, as a company, could do to change our impact on the sport.”

Deigan added: “The challenge was dealing with the non-recyclable metallized Mylar® material those Heatsheets were made from.” The search for, and testing of, alternate materials started shortly thereafter, and ultimately led Deigan to the proprietary formulation of low density polyethylene that today’s recyclable Heatsheets are made from.

If the dumpsters in Chicago were the “aha” moment, the tipping point came last fall in the form of a call to Deigan from Virginia Brophy Achman, Executive Director of Twin Cities Marathon, Inc. Achman had been approached by a local marathon runner, Jon Stein, who was convinced that discarded Heatsheets were recyclable. What’s more, he volunteered to personally guide the project for her.

Stein had retired from a family-owned company that began reusing and recycling things 100 years ago, filling the gaps in wooden barrels with reeds so they could be reused to store and transport linseed oil. Jon subsequently returned from retirement to guide the family tradition in a new direction: finding markets for the category 3 through 6 recyclable plastics that traditional waste management companies struggle to segregate and reprocess. Through Stein’s efforts, Consolidated Container Company is forging strategic relationships with waste management companies as an ally, rather than as a competitor, to develop options for recycling what is now one of the most ubiquitous forms of solid waste—plastics like Polyvinyl Chloride, Low Density Polyethylene, Polypropylene and Polystyrene.

Energized by the dialogue with Brophy Achman and Stein, and what he learned attending several sustainability conferences, including Road Race Managements “How Green is My Event Workshop,” this past spring, Deigan convinced AFMInc’s board that an aggressive approach to recycling was essential, and that work needed to begin immediately. Reaching out to Eco-Logistics, a consultancy focused on helping participant sporting events become more environmentally responsible, the senior Deigan asked for help developing a systematic approach for recycling Heatsheets. Thus, the pilot project was born.

While Stein will lead the pilot effort at the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon, the other five participating pilot events will receive direct guidance from Eco-Logistics waste management expert Lee Barrett, including Barrett’s personal involvement with local solid waste management companies and film plastics processors to ensure the objectives of the program are achieved. Barrett will also provide the link between events to allow best practices to be shared. PR support will be provided to each pilot event by Lee’s partner, Keith Peters.

AFMInc and Eco-Logistics will take the findings from the pilot projects and develop detailed recycling protocols to address the opportunities and challenges running events of all sizes will face as they develop programs for recycling LDPE. Recycling protocols should be available by the end of the year on www.Heatsheets.com. There will be no charge for the PDF format document, and events will not need to be a customer of AFM to download the information.

AFMInc looks forward to expanding its Heatsheets recycling program to include the nation’s mega-marathons next year.

For more information about the Heatsheets recycling pilot project, contact Keith Peters at (307) 690.6803, or Keith AT Eco-Logistics.biz.

About AFMInc:

AFMInc combines a unique understanding of infra-red reflective insulation technology with careful needs research, original thinking, and the process knowledge necessary to build creative solutions for passively extending or delaying thermal heating.

AFM’s technology can be traced to the early days of our nation’s space program when NASA developed an ultra-light, highly efficient reflective insulation technology to protect astronauts, spacecraft, and heat-sensitive equipment from temperatures of 250°F above zero to 460°F below. AFM’s reflective insulation technology has earned the Certified Space Technology seal.

For more information about AFMInc, contact Stephanie Deigan at (800) 897-9727, or visit www.Heatsheets.com.

Tags: AFMInc, Heatsheets, IMT Des Moines Marathon, ING Hartford Marathon, Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon, Mohawk Hudson River Marathon, Nike Women's Marathon, Portland Marathon, recycling film plastics

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 10th, 2008 at 4:00 pm and is filed under News, Projects. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.