Events recycle too
Meghan Kincheloe, Director of Community Development
Sedona Recycles
Events are the spice of life here in Sedona. From film to art, wine to raw food, native plants to Celtic harvests, and jazz festivals to marathons, Sedona is home to an event for everyone.
With every event comes the inevitable: waste. Festivals generate paper programs, water bottles, plastic cups, wine bottles, and a lot of cardboard boxes. Just as we should recycle these items at our homes and businesses, so too should local events ensure that these materials are properly recycled.
Luckily for us, area events have started jumping on the recycling bandwagon. Sedona Recycles received a grant in 2006 to provide free recycling containers for local events. Since then, event recycling has continued to grow each year and is now prominently featured at more than 20 annual events in Sedona and the Verde Valley.
Here are the recycling tallies for two of the most successful events in the last year.
- Sedona Marathon (2013)
- Cardboard: 330 lbs.
- Plastic & Cans: 288 lbs.
- Film Plastic: 115 lbs.
- Sedona International Film Festival and Workshop (2012)
- Cardboard: 1090 lbs.
- Paper: 457 lbs.
- Plastic & Cans: 216 lbs.
- Glass: 377 lbs.
Compare the numbers for the 2012 Film Festival with their recycling volumes for 2011:
- Sedona International Film Festival and Workshop (2011)
- Cardboard: 90 lbs.
- Paper: 225 lbs.
- Plastic & Cans: 91 lbs.
- Glass: 270 lbs.
What an increase! Volumes for paper and plastic & cans more than doubled, and cardboard collection increased by 1,000 lbs.! The Film Festival is a great example of an event that has improved their efforts year after year and made recycling a priority.
Dedicated volunteers have worked hard to integrate recycling into all components of the festival. It hasn’t always been easy, but their dedication has had an extraordinary positive impact. The 2012 Film Festival’s recycling alone saved 42 trees, 15,335 gallons of water, 275 gallons of oil, 243 lbs. of sand, 29 lbs. of feldspar, 71 lbs. of limestone, and 80 lbs. of soda ash. These savings are incredible!
Event organizers can go an extra step and work with food and beverage vendors to use only recyclable items at their event, ensuring that they can recycle the maximum material possible and reduce their waste footprint. Sedona Recycles’ staff is always available to help event organizers work with vendors and caterers to improve event recycling rates.
All events and festivals should institute recycling and waste reduction programs to save precious resources, support local recycling efforts, save on trash disposal costs, and meet the growing demands of the public. People want to recycle and will do so if given the choice. Events held in Sedona are lucky enough to be able to offer this service to the public without incurring any extra expenses.
If you are involved in planning an area event, please consider adding recycling to your planning process. And if you attend a local event that doesn’t offer recycling, ask to talk to event staff and let them know you would like to see recycling next year. Public feedback encourages event organizers to take recycling seriously.
It’s a lot easier to enjoy yourself at your favorite festival when you know that you’re helping the earth while having fun!
For more information about Sedona Recycles’ free event recycling services, call (928) 204-1185 or visit www.sedonarecycles.org.