Arc’teryx Climb Academy is annual event created to celebrate climbing culture in the world class destination of Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, B.C. There are clinics, talks, live music, community film premieres and much more.
It’s an opportunity for athletes of all disciplines to come together and learn and share their love of the mountains over the course of three days.
Zero Waste Heroes Participation
Zero Waste Heroes have been working at this event for the past three years.
- August 24-27, 2023
- August 23-25, 2024
- August 22-24, 2025
Event Size
- 3000 – 4000 people across three days
Zero Waste In Numbers
| Year | Waste Collected (kg) | Waste Diverted from Landfill (kg) | % Waste Diverted / Collected |
| 2023 | 444.06 | 406.01 | 91.43% |
| 2024 | 336.7 | 303.9 | 90.30% |
| 2025 | 291.17 | 261.77 kg | 89.60% |
This % of waste diverted in considered gold standard for a zero waste event.
We saw a significant reduction in total waste collected from 2023 to 2024, with a consistently high percentage of waste being diverted from landfill through our Zero Waste sorting systems.
2025 Observations & Sucesses
The types of waste generated during the event reflected its beverage-focused nature, with the majority
of materials coming from on-site consumption of drinks beverages, and the cardboard from packaging.
The largest waste streams were paper and cardboard and refundable beverage containers, primarily from packaging, event setup, and drinks consumed on site. These were followed by compostables and organics. Smaller but notable streams included mixed containers – primarily coffee cups and recyclable food containers. Landfill consisted mainly of compostable plastics (which are banned in BC) and packaging from outside vendors. A small amount of flexible plastics was also captured as “other.” The high proportion of recyclable and compostable materials (89.6% of total waste) highlights the success of targeted diversion, while the remaining landfill fraction points to the ongoing challenge of managing materials not currently supported in local recycling or composting systems.
Key successes from 2025 event include:
- Reusable Cups: The partnership with Sharewares enabled the collection and return of 5,000 reusable cups for the event, avoiding thousands of single-use disposables, we saw a return rate of
- High Engagement: Many attendees engaged with Zero Waste Hero staff to learn about compostables and packaging
- Community Benefit: Refundable bottles and cans were donated to the Squamish Active Seniors Society, raising funds for local programming
