In NASCAR, "there's nothing more exciting than taking the lead." And that’s not limited to racing. NASCAR is leading the pack in making professional sports more environmentally friendly. Believed by many to be the number one recycler in sports and the number one user of renewable energy and the largest biofuels program in the world, NASCAR celebrated five years of its NASCAR Green program with the NASCAR Green Summit in Chicago last week.
NASCAR Green started in 2009 with a recycling pilot
program at Phoenix
International Raceway. With the help of
“We now have the largest recycling program in sports, and Coke was a lead contributor to NASCAR's launch of the program," said Mike Lynch, head of NASCAR Green.
Coke Recycling
worked with NASCAR and tracks where
A Change in Attitude
NASCAR conducts surveys to measure fan attitudes about
the environment every year. Their findings revealed that NASCAR fans are twice
as likely as nonfans to view their household as very green. Inside and outside
of the track, NASCAR fans are taking steps to lessen their footprint and
positively impact the environment.
Lynch believes

The Impact
Because of NASCAR’s huge fan base (1/3rd of
the U.S. population), the NASCAR Green platform is arguably the most impactful U.S.
sustainability program. It’s a program
that’s grown over the past five years, and is now responsible for recycling almost five million bottles and cans through 10,000
Lynch says that’s why he loves NASCAR Green. “How many can say that in their day job, they have that kind of positive impact on the world while also doing incredibly interesting profound work with cool people?”
What’s Next?
At the NASCAR Green Summit in Chicago last week, NASCAR
executives and 25 NASCAR Green partner companies were joined by former
Vice-President Al Gore and scientists from the National Resources Defense
Council and the Department of Energy to discuss the current state and future of
sustainability for the sport. What do you think NASCAR Green should focus on
next?
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