Infineon Raceway Collects More Than 15 Tons of Recyclable Materials During Race Season

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."