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Community Corner

Clean Water Action Recycles at the Folk and Jazz Festivals for 20 years...

This year Clean Water Action is celebrating our twentieth year at the Newport Folk and Jazz Festivals. It’s been an amazing experience. With the help of thousands of volunteers and the support of the Newport Festivals, now run by the Newport Festival Foundation, we’ve proven that it’s possible to make public events sustainable and “green”.

Events like the Folk and Jazz festivals generate huge amounts of waste. It adds up when 11,000 people converge each day for two consecutive weekends. Normally, the host cities and towns are left to pick up the tab to clean up the mess. Since 1993 Clean Water Action and our volunteers have helped the Festivals, the artists, and the attendees recycle and compost much of their waste. In 2012 alone, Clean Water Action volunteers recycled six tons of material, diverting it from the Central Landfill in Johnston, RI!

It’s really not that difficult to make events, large and small, sustainable. Our twenty year partnership with the Folk and Jazz Festivals has proved that. With the help of Clean Water Action and our members, the Newport Folk and Jazz Festivals have led the way when it comes to “greening” our large events – and helped to bolster and change an industry.

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Making events sustainable is creating jobs across the country. The promotion of sustainable and ethical business practices within the events and tourism industry is on the rise. According to the UN World Travel Organizations, there are 350 green certification programs certify upwards of 6000 travel-related businesses.

Now it’s time for all public events to step up and include recycling and composting in their waste management strategy. While it’s great to see large events like the Newport Festivals, the America’s Cup and even the 2012 Olympic Games commit to sustainability, many events still have to catch up. It’s the 5k runs, parades, block parties, beach BBQ’s and farmer’s markets that are being overlooked. It’s up to us to let event organizers know that it is no longer fashionable or responsible to leave a host city on the hook for clean-up.

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Clean Water Action empowers people to take charge of our environmental future. We are community organizers building grassroots support to solve environmental and community problems. With more than one million members nationally and 30,000 in Rhode Island, our grassroots muscle has been critical in shaping and strengthening laws such as the Clean Water Act. Now we’re fighting to make all events sustainable. Resources are available through RI DEM and the Newport Energy and Environment Commission.

Greening events is a winner for the hosts, sponsors and organizers. Studies have shown that 82% of music fans think that waste can have a negative impact at music festivals. Besides the unsightly factor of waste, it can also pose health risks. This is also one of the most costly expenses for festivals and should be given careful consideration in the planning process.

We know that, depending on the type and size of the festival, between 15% and 40% of waste can be recycled. Everything from plastic bottles, paper, batteries, cans, cardboard, compostables like food scraps, glass, plastic film, and even cooking oil from vendors can be repurposed or recycled to avoid the need to landfill. It’s easy to set up separate recycling bins for plastic bottles and aluminum cans, compost bins for vendors and compostable dishware for festival-goers. Together we can make our events greener.

Come to the Festivals, listen to the music and get involved. 

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