People power – along with a mega-dose of creativity – was the name of the game at the inaugural Recycle Derby at Walking Tree Brewery to benefit Coastal Connections and its Vero Goes Zero Initiative, which seeks to reduce plastic waste in the community.
“That’s our sustainability initiative, which is designed around increasing our recycling opportunities and decreasing the availability of single-use plastics,” said Kendra Cope, president and founding director of Coastal Connections.
A small but mighty number of teams accepted the challenge to build imaginative vehicles made using 75 percent recyclable materials.
“Everyone will be breaking down their carts and recycling them after the race,” said Cope, pointing to bins for each variety of recyclables, including paper, Styrofoam, plastic, cardboard, wood, scrap metal and tires.
But before that happened, teams needed to make their way through a wacky obstacle course.
Among the stations, vehicles needed to make it up and over a ramp, before heading to the dizzy bat (a dizzying task indeed, with team members making 10 rotations, with their foreheads on a baseball bat), then weaving in and out of a keg course and hydration station (chugging cups of water), before making their way over hoses (with sprinklers), rumble sticks and another ramp.
A panel of three independent judges evaluated the contestants on showmanship, creativity and speed.
While they may not have been the fastest, the Area 51 team had showmanship and creativity in spades, which rocketed them into First Place. Their reward was impressive: one beer a day for a year at Walking Tree Brewery and $500 in cash.
“So one more reason why people should compete next year,” said Cope.
Tied for Second Place in the showmanship and creativity categories were the Midday Riders on their trusty ‘steed’ Donald Quixote, and the littlest entry, Baby Bull. However, the speed of the Midday Riders blew past the others, propelling them into Second Place.
Pulling up the rear as an Epic Fail, and winner of the Golden Trash Can Award, was the Coastal Connections team in their Flippin Box Turtle.
In between races, Cope noted some recycling facts, including that the average person creates 9 pounds of waste each day, which equates on a national level to roughly 292 million tons of waste each day. About 32 percent is recycled nationally, but 2 percent, or some 9 million tons of trash, ends up in our oceans each year.
“Here in Florida, we’re surrounded by water, and one of the things we’re focused on at Coastal Connections is sea turtles and our sensitive eco-systems.
“We must protect these waterways, and one of the ways we do that is through recycling and picking up our trash,” said Cope.
She noted that Florida’s recycling rate is about 49 percent, which is better than the national rate but still quite far from the state’s 75 percent goal. And, while Indian River County makes it easy to recycle, she said some 25 percent of items put in recycling bins are considered contaminated.
The event also included raffle items and vendors, who Cope said were all small businesses with an environmentally friendly mission, and who were donating a portion of the day’s proceeds to Coastal Connections.
“We’re definitely going to be doing it again next year; that is a guarantee,” said Cope.
For more information, visit coastal-connections.org.
Photos provided
