July 10, 2002
Green Team takes out festival trash
Group helps recycle and compost Open Space Food Court waste
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
The compost on the large flower garden at the Open Space has a special history: it is the recycled organic material from the food court at last year's National Cherry Festival.
Each year for the past five years, members of the festival's Green Team have been gathering trash at the Open Space Food Court and either recycling or composting it.
After diners are done eating, they bring their trays to the Recycling Tent and the team swings into action. Green Team members sort the cardboard, glass, metal and plastic bottles for recycling. They also separate paper cups, plates and food scraps for compost, which will be used next year on municipal gardens.
Special placards on each table in the food court remind diners to visit the Recycling Tent after they finish their meal while each re-usable food tray sports a liner declaring "Trash is the PITS!" In addition, the few garbage cans in the area remind diners to head to the Recycling Tent instead of making a deposit there.
Sometimes a little outreach helps spur diners. Weekend volunteers from the Northern Michigan Environmental Action Council often venture into the crowd for a little old-fashioned proselytizing.
"We get a lot of repeat customers who know a lot about our program but many people still don't," said Anna Collinson, recycling director for the National Cherry Festival. "So volunteers go out into the crowd to let them know where to come with their trash."
Last year, the efforts paid off as overall the Green Team recycled 43 percent of the waste generated at the Food Court. This included all the cardboard collected during the festival.
"The effort is phenomenal to save the landfills from so much trash and also create compost," said Sandi McArthur, a volunteer who worked ten hours with the Green Team over the weekend. "Doing this feels right because this is our dump, our landfill, our water and it is good to think we are doing something that is helpful for our area."
McArthur was part of the Northern Michigan Environmental Action Council's effort. Every year, NMEAC spearheads the festival's two weekends, fielding dozens of volunteers in four-hour shifts all day at the Recycling Tent. In fact, the first few years of the program, NMEAC provided most of the volunteers during the festival but the effort has since been widened to include other community share groups.
While sorting other people's trash may look like hard (and stinky) work, McArthur said that being on the Green Team is actually a lot of fun.
"It's hot, it's busy and it's a workout but it is a lot of fun because you bring people you know and work with friends," she said. "There's a little bit of a party atmosphere in the tent."
One of the National Cherry Festival's many community share programs, the Green Team is also a way for area groups and organizations to raise a little money while helping the local environment. Besides NMEAC, organizations helping out this year range from the Special Olympics and TBA Adult Work Center to the Dyslexia Association and various high school soccer and cross-country teams.
"We've got some pretty dedicated volunteers here," said Collinson of the more than 120 helpers during the week. "We also have groups that come in after events and clean up the grounds, like after the fireworks."
With all the visitors who come to town for the National Cherry Festival, McArthur said another benefit of the Recycling Tent is that it lets people know they can do this back in their hometown.
"We are hopefully instilling in others that this can be done in other places and hopefully instilling in the National Cherry Festival that this can be done elsewhere at the festival, like the carnival or other events," McArthur said.
"I just feel like it is important to make the statement that this is a beautiful area and if you are coming here to enjoy it you can do something to help preserve the beauty," she noted.