The Dakar Rally is undoubtedly the largest and most globally renowned motorsport event of the year. Powerful race cars, dusty high-speed sections, extreme situations – all this holds adrenaline lovers' breath and does not allow to forget the emotions of the races in Saudi Arabia even after they end.

Even a month ago, the desert sands shaken by sports cars are quietly blowing by free winds again today – the sand dunes seem to be untouched by humans. Harmony with nature is one of top priorities of the Dakar, with an increasing focus on environmental issues in the race every year, and an increasing focus on the management of hazardous motor vehicle waste that accumulates in huge amounts during the several weeks of the race.

Teams are encouraged to focus on ecology, motivated to make innovative decisions, and seek a sustainable connection with nature. It is predicted that in the next few years there will be a significant breakthrough in the field of racing equipment – teams begin to focus on a new generation of environmentally friendly electric cars.

The Dakar old-timer Antanas Juknevičius, a member of the Kreda team who participated in 12 races and won the 23rd place with Darius Vaičiulis this year, also tells about this in an interview below. According to him, the Dakar sets very high environmental requirements, and this issue is becoming more and more relevant every year in the race.

Paulius Repšys, a representative of the hazardous waste management facility Žalvaris, who has been cooperating with the team of A. Juknevičius since 2012, also supports the racer. According to him, not only the organisation of the event changes and improves over the years, but also the attitude of the organisers, sportsmen are encouraged to look at the race responsibly as well – a tire thrown away or another part of the car remained in the sand dunes can entail a fine of thousands.

"The Dakar takes place in a large area, so the control of waste management is a big challenge for the organisers. Nevertheless, the situation is obviously improving, an awareness that the management of motor vehicle waste across the planet is a meaningful activity appears – no matter in Lithuanian forests or Saudi Arabian dunes an attempt to get rid of a tire or hide lubricant residues "quietly" is made – the attitude to pollution is the same: waste must be collected and handed over to waste handlers that handle such waste," Paulius Repšys, the Development Director of Žalvaris said.

When the first emotions called down after the race that ended in mid-January, A. Juknevičius admits that the Dakar was different this year. This was due to both the pandemic, which caused additional restrictions, and the stony track – the team had to face various challenges.

But the Dakar would not be the Dakar if everything was so simple. "The most difficult thing is when you step on the gas and the car is not moving. We spoiled the Lithuanians with good results. But we are not going to hang the helmet on a nail yet," A. Juknevičius laughs.

– Antanas, regarding that invisible side of the race – do you feel that attitude changes over the years, the focus increases on what will be left after the end of the race. How has the situation with the handling motor vehicle waste changed over the past five to ten years?

– What we see now – yes, it was by no means always so. When the Dakar took place in Africa, lubricants were poured into the sand, the ground, the wheels were lying in the mountains, and then the locals pulled them apart.

Now the change is huge: the attitude of both the organisers and the participants is changing, the teams are beginning to strive for the name of the most ecological team, they are trying to use as few diesel and petrol generators as possible, to protect the environment.

And we have participated in the eco-label competition, won it – we have solar modules, a power plant installed on the roof to support the truck, we are quiet, we do not burn petrol, diesel, we have enough sun to meet our needs. There is enough electricity for everyone – we generate 3 kW, charge the available accumulators, and share energy with others. We also received international attention for that attitude – when we won, we were shown through Eurosport and presented as an example to other teams.

The organisers encourage such initiatives, organise separate competitions in which they can get a prize or a discount on the entry fee next year. Harnessing the sun and wind is always the biggest kaif, everyone is promoting it little by little, although there have been such initiatives that by handing over old lubricants – you get new ones for free – a responsible attitude is promoted in every way.

The situation has changed dramatically over the last 5-6 years because of the general popularity of the Dakar itself and the involvement of the public in the race. The Dakar is a widely seen event globally, wherever it takes place, even if on the Moon or on Mars. Therefore, the organisers are trying to present the right attitude.

– But the Dakar is full of unexpected situations. What should you do if, say, the wheel has fallen on a race track or if you have lost something?

– Now we have to collect everything after ourselves. It used to be like this: the wheel is punctured or fell, you don't bother with it and go further, what this extra weight for? Although the Bedouins quickly picked up these wheels, oh, how soon they disappeared in Africa (Laughs)!

On the other hand, the requirements are now extremely strict: we must return to the finish line with all the wheels we left, everything is carefully calculated. And if you sometimes decide to leave that wheel in the desert, you will have to pay a fine of 2 thous. euros and this is for one wheel and for two wheels – 4 thous. euros.

– Does it happen that racers come back without wheels?

– Yes, it does – both without wheels and without other parts, but such cases are rare. In addition to the wheels, there is nothing to leave – neither battery nor lubricants are replaced while driving, so the wheels break most often, especially in the high-speed section. Earlier, it happened that you roll the old ones aside and go on, – in this regard, a fine was introduced.

Now all maintenance is carried out in the camp: the car is inspected and prepared for the next day, lubricants, filters, batteries are replaced here – both the organisers and sportsmen become more aware, more responsible, and no one wants to spend money on fines.

– To make it clearer, tell us what amounts of hazardous waste you have to face, how many, say, the Kreda team alone has to collect during the Dakar?

– We drain at least 50 liters of lubricants during the period of the Dakar, and these are only scheduled replacements, if we take into account unscheduled replacements, the amount will reach about 80 liters. We also replaced two batteries, filters, fuel, and we broke down 22 wheels this year. And that was the largest amount of broken wheels in our Dakar history. For comparison – in 2016 we broken down only one wheel for the entire period of the race, and this year there were a lot of stones on the track, one Dakar is not equal to another Dakar.

– Remembering those previous years – were there any exceptional situations when the wheels were flying, the lubricants were running, maybe you had to puzzle your head over how to collect that hazardous waste?

– In 2003, we found ourselves in a situation where waste ... served us. Then we drove in Libya, in the very heart of the Sahara – around only huge sand dunes, dunes, we were thousands of kilometers away from civilisation, around there was no infrastructure, only Bedouin tribes were traveling somewhere.

Then our rear springs broke, in the morning before the start we were in complete despair – there was no way to find other springs to replace. Our car was already an old model, almost antique, no one was driving with such springs anymore, all cars are much more modern, with springs. Then we were already convinced that the Dakar might end for us that day.

But we had to stop at the bushes because of need and – what do you think! – we stumbled upon a scrap metal from the Second World War: tanks, trucks and a huge pile of springs. It is dry in Africa, the metal does not rust there, everything is perfectly preserved, and we found exactly the springs that were required. Miracle, nothing more! Having replaced the springs in this way, we successfully reached the finish line in the Dakar, although we already thought that this is the end.

Therefore, the moral is this – even a pile of garbage can serve, especially when everything is neatly collected in one place. We even laughed, we said, we need to do a metal collection business – then the purchase prices were high and the deserts were full of such scrap, no one needed it.

– Many years have passed since this event, but the situation with waste remains similar to this day. And if environmental issues are becoming more and more important every year in the Dakar, there is no shortage of garbage on the roadsides that is not related to the races.

– Yes it's true. In Saudi Arabian culture, rubbish just stings Europeans' eyes. Locals throw away garbage anywhere, landfills outside the city are not fenced and attended, anything is brought there anyhow, around the cities there is a lot of garbage. In Africa, Latin America, it is similar, you understand about approaching a city from the mountains of garbage growing along the roadsides.

And although this situation is disappointing, it is gratifying that the Dakar is cultivating environmental culture. Of course, driving of cars in the desert is not ecological, but efforts are being made to compensate for this by applying the highest standards. All participants must comply with strict ecological rules, must sort. We receive several bags of different colours, in which we collect various waste, we have to drop the lubricants into a specially designed container – everything is collected in the bivouacs.

– So you don't need to carry waste with you?

– Yes, we don't, we leave it in the bivouac, there are special containers for lubricants and liquids, later they are collected and transported by trucks, disposed of. The same is with wheels and batteries – we must bring everything, hand over for destruction, recycling. In general, waste collection in the bivouac means the highest level.

– And does any waste return to Lithuania?

– Yes, it does, we bring a lot of old parts to Lithuania, which are damaged, worn out, sometimes they serve, although sometimes we just hand over them for disposal.

Only liquids and tires are handed over to the Dakar bivouac, but all metal parts travel back to Lithuania to be scrapped. Among such parts are brake discs, links, protective cases, etc., we hand over them all to Žalvaris.

This week, our truck – full of Lithuanian goods – has finally arrived.