Eno Fest Goes Green
DURHAM, N.C. – According to Eno Fest organizers, this year’s festival was greener than ever:
Of the 5,000 pounds of trash generated during the three-day event, 93 percent will never see a landfill. Instead, it will be composted or recycled.
The secret, according to Cooperative Extension’s composting specialist, Rhonda Sherman, is for vendors, event organizers and festival goers to work together.
“Vendors signed a contract stipulating they would use compostable plates, cutlery and even straws and that they would avoid single condiment servings (those little foil packets),” she said.
Festival organizers erected 12 trash recovery stations and staffed them with volunteers to help festival goers choose which items they could compost or recycle and had to go into the trash. Those who attend the festival did their part by using the trash stations and even bringing litter they’d found on the way to the station.
Of the 5,300 pounds of waste generated, 93 percent — or 4,929 pounds – will not be thrown away. Instead, 70 percent will be composted and 23 percent recycled.
Because of plastics and other items brought by attendees the event was not 100 percent trash-free, but 93 percent is, “an excellent recovery rate, especially when you consider that each NC resident generates 1.34 tons each in a year,” according to Ellen Lorscheider, in the state’s Solid Waste Planning & Program Management Branch.
Landfills are difficult to site and construction costs are rising.
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