Partners in Sustainability
Aligning with Like-Minded Organizations
At the Big Sur Marathon Foundation (BSMF), we pride ourselves on partnering with organizations that share our passion for sustainability. From on-course nutrition to official apparel, we seek out brands that operate under strict sustainability guidelines and support green initiatives. Two sponsors in particular – GU Energy Labs and Recover Brands – are hailed as leading innovators for sustainability within their industries. Since 2018, we’ve partnered with Recover Brands to produce 100% recycled apparel. In just a short time, our growing partnership has drastically reduced our measurable footprint. This year, Recover Brands is providing the Monterey Bay Half Marathon with their 100% recycled participant shirts, volunteer shirts, and Green Team shirts, along with several merchandise items available for purchase at the Health and Fitness Expo!
The Recover Brands Model: 8 Bottles = 1 Shirt
Recover Brands was founded in 2010 with the mission to create the most environmentally-friendly and socially-responsible products on the market. Recently the BSMF team took a trip to their headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina for an inside look at the journey from plastic bottle to participant shirt. First, Recover collects and sorts post-consumer plastic bottles, stripping them of all labels and caps. Next, they salvage cotton from discarded industry scraps, which are also sorted by color and blended with polyester. The reclaimed fiber is then spun into yarn and knit into fabric, which is ultimately cut and sewn into a garment. Since 2010, Recover has diverted 7.8 million plastic bottles from the landfill, saved 29.2 million kilowatts of energy, saved 11.8 million pounds of carbon emissions, and saved 2 billion gallons of water.
When you purchase a Recover Brands apparel item during registration or at the Health & Fitness Expo, you can feel good about your purchase knowing you’ll be sporting 8 recycled bottles around town! For more information on Recover Brands and their mission, visit recoverbrands.com.
Stash Your Trash with GU Energy Labs
Let’s face it: It’s a real bummer when you see used gel wrappers littering the race course or your local recreation trail. That’s why GU Energy Labs, our Official Gel Sponsor, partners with TerraCycle to encourage all athletes to stash their trash. The TerraCycle program offers endurance sports athletes a simple, no-cost way to recycle hard-to-recycle nutrition packaging and reduce their impact on the beautiful places they play. Not only can you upcycle your nutrition wrappers by mail any time of year, but you can also recycle them in person at the Green Team booth at our Health & Fitness Expo!
To participate in the program:
- Join the program at terracycle.com
- Collect approved performance nutrition packaging and fill up a box or bag. Your shipments must weigh over 2 lbs to receive the TerraCycle point donation.
- Download a free shipping label from your TerraCycle account. Click “Get Shipping Label” under the “Send Your Waste” option in the navigation bar at the top of this page.
- Ship the box to TerraCycle by affixing the free shipping label and dropping it off at a UPS location.
As a certified California Green Business, GU Energy Labs has spearheaded many sustainability initiatives such as purchasing post-consumer recycled paper, minimizing water use and using non-toxic cleaning products in the office. To date, GU Energy Labs has reduced its water usage by twenty percent and offsets over 95% of their energy usage with solar power. To learn more, visit guenergy.com.
