|
Green Events
Party more and waste less with
HC3’s Zero Waste Party Pack!
HC3’s Zero Waste Party Pack provides everything you need to make your picnic, party, or gathering waste free! The Zero Waste Party Packs include compostable products such as plates, forks, knives, cups... and all the educational signage needed to make your event zero waste. You’ll order your Party Pack, pick it up at HC3’s office, host your successful event, and deliver your compostable materials back to HC3 where they will be sent to the High Country Compost Facility. Don’t forget to recycle your recyclables at your curb or the nearest drop-off center. Voila, you’ve just thrown a waste free party! Contact Jen or call 668-5703 for more info or a price sheet.
A big thank you to The Summit Foundation and the Lenzmeier / Williams Advised Fund for a grant to purchase clear-stream containers for small and mid-sized zero waste events. The containers are easy to set up, take down, and transport making zero wate parties an option for everyone.
High Country Conservation Center's
ZERO WASTE EVENT GUIDELINES
HC3's Zero Waste Tent and Frame Rental Program
Zero Waste Party Info Sheet for Party Coordinators
Check out SCTV10 for a Video on Zero Waste and Greening Events
Summit
County is striving to make its special events as green as
possible, and we need your help as a vendor to help us make
that happen.
Events produce a lot of excess waste – half of which
is from food packaging! Fortunately, Summit County has an
extensive recycling program. At most events, we have Zero
Waste Tents for both RECYCLABLES and COMPOSTABLES.
By carefully selecting your materials, you can help us reach
for zero waste at our events!
Help REDUCE waste before it starts:
• Avoid single serving condiments (mustard, ketchup,
mayo, sugar etc) – instead opt for bulk containers.
• Please, no Styrofoam plates, cups, or containers.
Styrofoam (#6) is not recyclable in Summit County. There
are many alternatives to Styrofoam for both hot and cold
applications which are cost competitive with non-recyclable
Sytrofoam.
• Consider finger foods that don’t require utensils.
Choose products packaged in RECYCLABLE
materials, such as:
• Aluminum Cans
• Aluminum Foil
• Plastic Bottles
• Glass
Try
COMPOSTABLE products:
• All paper plates and napkins
• Wax-lined paper products, including boats, plates,
and cups
• Corn-based plastic cups
• Potato or corn-based plastic cutlery
Use ENVIRONMENTALLY-FRIENDLY products,
like:
• Recycled-content paper products (napkins, paper
towels, plates, etc).
• Try “Tree-Free” materials, like plates
and bowls made from sugar cane
OFFSET YOUR TRAVEL AND CARBON FOOTPRINT through the Colorado Carbon Fund. In addition to offsetting your carbon, 20% of your tax-deductible donation will go to new local - Summit County - projects that reduce emissions. Sign up today!
At the EVENT, please help us to recycle:
• Break down and flatten cardboard boxes and use designated
recycling bins/locations.
• If you generate a large quantity of recyclables
in food or beverage preparation at your booth, please ask
an event coordinator if you can have a recycling a bin to
place behind your booth.
• Please, please do not throw trash in our designated
recycling bins! All trash and recycling bins are clearly
marked as such.
For more information on our efforts or for assistance in
finding products or “greening” your event, please contact Jennifer Santry at the High Country
Conservation Center,
at (970) 668-5703 or jen@highcountryconservation.org.
What’s Recyclable and What’s Not?
|
YES
– It’s Recyclable or Compostable |
NO
– It’s Garbage! |
CUPS |
Wax-coated (hot or cold)
paper cups;
corn-based biodegradable plastic cups
|
Plastic cups (even #1 or #2);
Styrofoam cups;
straws;
all lids
|
PLATES/BOWLS |
Paper plates; Wax-coated paper
products including boats; “tree free”
alternatives like sugar cane plates and bowls |
Styrofoam;
plastic plates or bowls
|
UTENSILS |
Biodegradable corn or potato based
plastic utensils |
Plastic cutlery |
| WRAPS
|
Aluminum foil;
Wax paper
|
Aluminum and paper hybrid papers |
NAPKINS |
ALL napkins and paper towels are
biodegradable (compostable!) |
|
OTHER MATERIALS |
Aluminum trays;
Paper trays
|
|
You can find compostable products at the High Country Conservation Center office. Please contact Jennifer Santry for more information - 970-668-5703. Some
products can be found at “regular” stores (like
Costco, Sam’s Club, Walmart, grocery stores, etc.)
and are available through food service distributors like
Sysco. The trick is to shop for recyclability and compostability, specify what
you want, and avoid non-recyclable products, like Styrofoam.
The Biodegradable Plastics Institute is also a great resource for compostable products.
Remember – if it doesn’t say it’s made
from recycled paper, it’s not!
For specialty items (like tree-free papers and biodegradable
plastic products), there are a few sources:
• Locally, High Country Conservation Center in Frisco carries these products (970-668-5703 or visit our office at 518 Main Street in Frisco)
On the web, some sources are:
www.ecoproducts.com
www.biosmartpackaging.com
www.biodegradablestore.com
Zero Waste or Darn Near...
Guidelines for Zero Waste Tents:
Compost = all food scraps (including dairy
and meat**); all biodegradable “plastic” cutlery
and cups; paper coffee cups, paper plates, paper boats,
napkins, and other paper products; wax paper.
**Dairy and meat are accepted for commercial compost collection unlike backyard composting (read more here).
Recycling = all containers including glass,
aluminum, tin, and #1 and #2 plastic (cans, bottles, etc);
cardboard and paperboard in side pockets; mixed paper, including
newspaper, office paper, magazines, flyers, etc. in front
pocket
Trash = whatever else is left, but generally
plastic cups and films (bags & wrap), styrofoam, &
coffee cup lids.
Common questions:
Q: How can I tell if it’s a biodegradable
plastic?
A: Cups generally have a green band around the bottom that
says “Compostable.” But other than that, you
need to check with the vendor as they are hard to distinguish
from regular plastic. Usually, vendors want you to know
they are using biodegradable plastic and some events have
only biodegradable plastic allowed – check with event
coordinator if this is one of those events. When in doubt,
throw it out (in the trash)!
Q: What? Paper can go in a compost bin?
A: Yes! Paper is a highly biodegradable material and also
provides a good source of carbon for the compost. Paper
products like napkins and plates CAN NOT be recycled with
mixed paper because the fibers are too short.
Q: What happens to the compost?
A: The Summit County Government has started a large
scale commercial composting program at the landfill and
this material will be fed into that program and turned into
great soil amendment.
Q: Do the “plastic” cups and cutlery
biodegrade in a backyard bin?
A: Theoretically they will, but it would take
a very long time – they are designed for commercial
composting facilities, which have controlled conditions
and high heat and moisture.
Why a Zero Waste Culture?
Main findings from Stop
Trashing the Climate include:
• A zero waste approach based on preventing waste
and expanding reuse, recycling, and composting is one of
the fastest, cheapest, and most effective strategies to
protect the climate.
• Significantly reducing the amount of materials landfilled
and incinerated has climate benefits comparable to closing
one-fifth of all U.S. coal-fired power plants.
• The one-way flow of materials from extraction, processing,
and consumption to disposal directly contributes to climate
change. Waste disposal is linked to more than one-third
of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions; new resources must
be continually extracted to replace those buried or burned.
• Landfills are a top source of methane, a potent
greenhouse gas, and landfill gas capture systems are not
an effective strategy for preventing methane emissions to
the atmosphere. The global warming impact of methane emissions
in the short term is 72 times greater than CO2 and is three
times greater than reported by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency.
The Berkeley Model: Less Waste
On the first day of spring in 2005, Berkeley’s city council unanimously approved a zero waste resolution—one of the first in the nation. The resolution officially adopts a 75 percent waste reduction goal for 2010, and establishes a zero waste goal for 2020. What Does Zero Waste Mean? If it can’t be reduced, reused, repaired, rebuilt, refurbished, refinished, resold, recycled, or composted, then it should be restricted, redesigned, or removed from production. The goal is to combine aggressive resource recovery and industrial redesign to eliminate the very concept of waste. Eventually, the community’s resource-use system will emulate natural cyclical processes, where no waste exists. Check out more from the Ecology Center here.
Check out the October 19, 2009, New York Times article Nudging Recycling From Less Waste to None by Leslie Kaufman...
Across the nation, an antigarbage strategy known as “zero waste” is moving from the fringes to the mainstream, taking hold in school cafeterias, national parks, restaurants, stadiums and corporations. The movement is simple in concept if not always in execution: Produce less waste. Shun polystyrene foam containers or any other packaging that is not biodegradable. Recycle or compost whatever you can. Though born of idealism, the zero-waste philosophy is now propelled by sobering realities, like the growing difficulty of securing permits for new landfills and an awareness that organic decay in landfills releases methane that helps warm the earth’s atmosphere. Read more here.
|