Making Your Walk Green
Do you want to help the environment at your Walk? Here are 8 quick tips to help make your
Walk “green”.
1) Recycle! Make sure your walk site has recycling available to your walkers. Many of the
things we use on walk day can be recycled including plastic bottles, cans and cardboard.
2) Re-Use. Keep any supplies that aren’t damaged to use at your other walks. Keeping
your signs, table clothes, banners and decorations save you a lot of green- both
environmentally and financially!
3) Make Your Giveaways Re-usable. Walkers often receive a lot of giveaways at an event
including goodie bags & water bottles. If you use cloth bags, your walkers can re-use
them. Try branding them with the Walk logo for free advertising! This also works well
for water bottles.
4) Find Green Sponsors for your walk. If you want to have environmentally friendly things
like port-a-potties, cloth bags or biodegradable cups at your walk but find they are too
expensive, get sponsors for these items. This allows you to green your walk and the
sponsor to be showcased as environmentally responsible.
5) Leave No Trace. After your walk, make sure the site is as you found it, if not cleaner.
Keep our parks clean and healthy.
6) Shop green for your walk. Buy recycled and biodegradable when you can for supplies
such as garbage bags, cups and any service items like plates & utensils.
7) Go green before your walk. Instead of paper registration forms & newsletters,
encourage your participants to use online registration and fundraising. Utilize the Walk
e-marketing campaign to communicate with your participants. This reduces the use of
paper and also makes your bookkeeping easier.
8) Remember that going green is a process. You may not be able to implement all of these
strategies at once. Try adding them a few at a time. Go blue & yellow, and eventually
you will be green!
Additional resources:
www.afitplanet.com Bruce Rayner, Walk Conference presenter’s website on being a green
athlete or event planner.
www.thegreatgreenlist.com Resources for all things green. Search for event planning to find
some great tips!
www.ecoproducts.com Environmentally friendly walk day supplies such as cups, plates &
cutlery.
www.reusablebags.com, www.onebagatatime.com Reusable bags for event day giveaway.