By VICTOR SKINNER
TRAVERSE CITY -- The National Cherry Festival's increased focus on thinking green helped boost materials recycled at the 2008 event by about seven percent.
Public service announcements, more volunteer hours and recycling efforts at venues outside the Open Space resulted in nearly 10 tons of material diverted from landfills over this year's nine-day festival.
About 33 percent of the roughly 27 tons of Cherry Festival-generated waste was recycled, with an additional 1,500 pounds of materials composted, figures from Waste Management show.
"Part of it was the educational process with the green stations really conveying and allowing festival-goers to understand where the waste goes," said festival spokeswoman Susan Wilcox Olson.
But little touches to this year's festival also made a big difference, Olson said.
Volunteers used biodegradeable bags in green centers spread throughout the Open Space, visitors ate from reusable pie plates at off-site events, and a place to recycle beverage cups that wasn't previously available all contributed to the bump in recycled items.
About 26 percent of waste was recycled last year.
"It's the most that I can recall," said Laurel Durkin, a Waste Management spokeswoman of the 2008 recycling program. "A lot of it has to do with technology. That's one of the reasons that we were able to take the Pepsi cups this year; the plant we take them to is now able to process them."
The focus on going green was renewed last year after the recycling tent was cut from the budget in 2004 to save the cash-strapped festival about $9,000. Public outcry over the sheer volume of waste sent to landfills prompted festival officials to team with DTE and Waste Management to create a new program.
"It was our desire to further educate on ways they can get involved with not only the festival, but their own communities," said Debbie Galik, sponsorship manager for DTE, which also hosted an environmental day as part of the Cherry Festival.
"A big key to the success is the education on how to recycle. It's so easy for them to put those items in a normal trash container," she said.
Traverse City Mayor Michael Estes, who also sits on the festival's board of governors, said he's "encouraged" by recycling efforts, but believes city residents could become more involved, and set an example with their own recycling habits.
"There is always more that could be done, that's the bottom line," he said. "I do think the Cherry Festival as an entity is going to need more community support for them to really do the job they need to on recycling."
