We would like to invite you to help the Pioneer Valley Invitational become a beacon of sustainability!
Last year, we generated over 8 tons of trash and recycling. Although that might not seem like a lot in the face of the 5.6 million tons of waste Massachusetts produces each year, it is still significant for our local valley.
Many of you chose to recycle and compost last year and we want to continue those efforts. In this first year of our zero-waste goal, we would like everyone to focus on reducing our plastic consumption, ditch the disposables wherever possible, and recycle the materials that can be recycled, like metal, glass, paper and aluminum. Also compost and minimize our food waste.
Americans use 1,500 single-use plastic water bottles every second and they only use them once! Then there are the disposable cups. We are encouraging all participants to bring their own reusable mugs and tumblers for to-go drinks (Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts have discounts for bringing your own mug/cup).
This year, we are banning all disposable plastic water bottles, Gatorade bottles, and single-serve cups. This is a BYOB (Bring Your Own Bottle) event. https://byobottle.org/
Please refrain from bringing packs of Poland Springs or other disposable bottles to this tournament. Every team is required to have reusable water bottles for each player. Please bring a couple of spare ones for your team. If players forget their water bottles, we will have metal water bottles for sale at the gear tent. We provide fill stations of safe delicious water and Gatorade around all the fields. To learn more about the myth of recycling plastic and why it’s not a solution to plastic pollution you can learn more here.
We are also holding a Spirit of the Trash Contest. Every team will be responsible for their own trash and trash bag. At the end of the tournament, the team who has produced the least amount of trash will win a Spirit of the Trash award. Please limit your consumption of single-use plastics and follow our recycling and compost instructions for anything that is not trash.
Don’t Huck. Don’t Dump. Refuse.
May the best team win!
This will be the first year of this initiative and we are excited to invite you on board. We welcome any ideas that you have. We will send further information as we get closer to the tournament, as well as posting information on our website.
We are all in this together, so let’s not Foul the World!
Sincerely,
The PVI Sustainability Committee