POCONO RACEWAY -- Pocono Raceway is known for high-speed races but it's also a leader in sustainability efforts among sports venues.
On this America Recycles Day, the folks at Pocono Raceway had another major sustainable announcement to make.
"With the help of Essity and the Tork paper towel brand, we were able to start composting all of the paper towels on the grandstand side for our events in 2018 -- huge number of bags and poundage that we then diverted away from the landfills," said Pocono Raceway CEO Nick Igdalsky.
For the first-year pilot program, 20 paper towel composting bins were placed in the grandstand restrooms. Pocono Raceway officials estimate that 190 cases of compostable paper towels were composted in the past year.
"Sustainability is one of our main core values that we strive for. We're in a pristine wilderness area up here. We want to keep it that way," Igdalsky said.
Thanks to this paper towel composting program, Pocono Raceway has likely kept its goal of 75 percent of paper towels from landfills. There are more sustainable efforts in the works.
The Essity Tork paper towel program was so successful in the grandstand bathrooms at Pocono Raceway in 2018, they'll be expanding that program throughout the entire Pocono Raceway in 2019.
"They just have been a great partner for us. Just like the compostable paper towels, they give us these options where we can take it to the next level," Igdalsky added.
The next step will be taking that compost to Pocono Organics, a 50-acre organic farm facility to be built on raceway property.