mountains of trash

[emmablue]

I was so inspired by Bonnaroo's organized and well labeled recycling and trash recepticals every four feet and amazed by how much less trash an event with 80,000 people had than Waka's.

I spoke to Team B about it who said there recycling crew was overwhelmed and am very interested in the idea of getting involved in the future with something I have experience with and care about so much.

Thank you to all the recycling crew (most of whom Im sure are still sorting stinky remains on shakedown street) and with quite the sore back.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to care and put caring into action


I look forward to seeing MANY recycling recepticals all over the place next year, along with clearly marked recycling bags that tell you 'GLASS, PLASTIC #1,2, ALUMINUM' etc... and a station with a huge balloon in the air where campers can go to retrieve more bags and latex gloves for sorting their own trash.

Thanks to all. Have a beautiful summer.

[emmablue]

what's the matter yall, 119 people view this thread and NO ONE has anything to say?

Let's talk about this.




Raffles for the greatest number of recycling bags with great prizes are an easy way to persuade the kellerwhore in all of us, etc. . .

If people aren't 'leaving no trace' of the village they set up at a fest. they're really missing the point.

[kinderkitti]

I'm with ya, emma. It was the same last year. Not near enough bags and containers around. Plus last year someone drove through our campsite each am to pick up our trash. Not this year. I got extra green bags one morning and went back to the entrance to bag some stuff but it had already been done. My way of helping was small but important-I picked up and bagged the trash in the vip areas at each stage i visited each day.

[ryangetz]

i hear ya guys. being an ex boy scout , i was always trained to leave my campsite in better condition than i found it in. after i pack up all my gear and am ready to head out, i do a walkthru my site and make sure everything is picked up. even if it is not my trash.

yoru right tho, there needs to be way more recycling bins thruout the site. not just in one central area.

[TeamB]

That is very much appreciated kinderkitti. There are some areas of the park that look great and others that don't look so good. We have recycled almost 4 tons of materials already with more being sent for processing tomorrow. While our program still has a long way to go we are pleased that such a great effort was made to recycle by so many people. :)

[SaraJuana]

I was disappointed to see so many bags with mixed items in them. Our campsite was pretty rigid on making sure that the correct items went to the correct bags. I did notice around the kids tent the stuff in the bags were mixed up. I would pull the recyclables out of the clear bags and put them in the green ones, and vice versa. Nobody actually put trash bags in the kids tent, I noticed the ones that were tied around were the ones I had put up daily. This is an area where alot of peops were going to eat, retreating to the shade. It was really hard to find someone to give me trash bags, and when they were full I was pulling them out into the middle of the walkway between the children's and the campgroud tents.

These are not complaints, just concerns on how to improve for next year.

BTW, what were the blue bags for? I assumed they were recycling.

[emmablue]

Exaclty, having the green bags marked with what CAN and CAN'T be in them, is crucial. People's memories at music festivals arent the sharpest and every city's recycling varies greatly.

Encouraging folks to grab handfuls of bottles and trashed as they leave a venue each night is the right idea-even when it's not yours.

At Bonnaroo nearly everyone did this after a show, it was reminded thru the PA system and WHAT A HUGE difference this makes. The volunteers and workers shouldnt break their backs cleaning up thousands of cigarette butts etc...


It's OK to complain, thats how **** gets done.

Have a beautiful day! Thanks everyone for being aware..and awake

[madison549]

What we bring we take home minus dead coals from the grill. As a homebrewer recycling is part of the process for me. TeamB I'm sorry about breaking the \"No Keg\" rule but a 5 gallon corney keg and one sleave of plastic cups really cut down on the waste at our site. No cans or bottles, water was in 5 gallon bags and carried in nalgene bottles for water into the event area. Another thing you may want to try is discounting refills a bit. This would encourge ppl inside the event to use the same cup instead of getting a new one, maybe even a \"special waka\" cup or something that ppl will hang on to.

Emma, I must say that you have a huge heart and I wish we had been able to spend more time together then the few minutes we had cooling off. Thats OK, because now that I have a better idea of how this fest is setup I can prepare better and know where I can find all you crazy peeps.

Peace