Nevada Division of Environmental Protection - Bureau of Waste Management

Background Information

o further promote Earth Day's environmental message, organizing committees of the Earth Day celebrations in Reno and Lake Tahoe incorporated Zero Waste efforts into their April 2005 events. Through the collaboration of event organizers, sponsors, vendors, volunteers, and participants the festivals strived to minimize the amount of waste generated while recycling and composting as much as possible. It was the first year that zero waste was attempted at the South Lake Tahoe event, while it was the third year for implementing it at the Reno and Tahoe Truckee Earth Days. New for 2005, NDEP held a "Guess the Waste" contest where attendees were invited to guess how much waste in pounds, including garbage, recyclables, and compostables, would be generated at each of the events with the closest guess to receive an Earth Machine backyard composting bin.

Contest participants received a special mix of "Soil Essence" compost from Full Circle Compost with a mixture of wildflower seeds from the Comstock Seed Company of Gardnerville, NV just for entering. NDEP quantified the total weight of waste generated at each event by collecting bags of garbage, recyclables, and compostables and weighing them at the event. Three lucky winners were selected and details of the contest and winners can be found below.

Implementation

The Set Up and Bin Placement — In the past, all three events have recycled beverage containers, but the move to zero waste included separately collecting paper, food wastes, and other biodegradable discards for composting. In addition, waste reduction and minimization considerations were incorporated into other aspects of the event, such as food service, vendors' products, and event activities.

Sample of Waste Station Set Up at
Reno Earth Day

NDEP and event organizers worked with food vendors at the Heavenly and Squaw Villages and the vendors at Reno's Earth Day to reduce excess packaging and other waste and to ensure that food service items, such as plates and cups, were recyclable or compostable when possible. Compostable serving ware was used at all three festivals.

Though the serving ware looks like it is made of typical petroleum-based plastic, it is actually made from wheat, potato, and corn resins. Prior experience working with the biodegradable plastics has shown that they break down in the composting process after about 80 to 90 days. Event organizers also encouraged booth participants to keep handouts to a minimum, incorporate sign-up sheets for e-mail contact or mailing list additions, and to reduce the amount of garbage associated with samples and give a-ways.

While all three events are held at different venues, the same zero waste plans were proposed for each event. This included providing three to four waste stations at various locations. These stations had separate receptacles for each of the three material types generated during the festivals -- organics, recyclables and trash. Signs and examples of proper and improper materials were displayed at each of the stations. Stations were placed in high traffic areas near the stage or main attraction, restrooms, food vendors, entrances, exits, and other well-traveled areas.

Volunteers

Zero waste volunteers hard at work

Volunteers were recruited to assist with recycling and composting efforts. They helped set up recycling stations, made signs, answered questions while monitoring the waste station bins, and were also in charge of bringing compost, recycling, and garbage bags to the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection booth for weighing. These volunteers are a vital link in the success of the program, as they also serve to educate festival participants about the importance of proper separation and to answer attendee questions. The high rate of diversion and the low rate of contamination are testimony to their tremendous work!

Composting

Through NDEP support, compostable wastes were taken by Full Circle Compost of Minden, Nevada for composting. Full Circle Compost is a permitted full scale composting facility that uses an "Advanced Composting System". When the bags of compost arrive at Full Circle, woodchips are added to the compost and then the mixture is ground up in a tub grinder that shreds the compostable wastes in to small pieces (see picture below). After this, the compost is put in a long pile called a windrow and is aerated by a mechanical turner called an Aeromaster. Diligent monitoring of temperature, moisture and CO2 conditions in the windrows helps assure the time required for the material to biodegrade is minimized while it increases the quality of finished compost. Full Circle Compost plans to donate the finished compost to the Earth Day festivals. In this way, festival attendees are able to actually see the results of their participation in the recycling program.

Full Circle Compost Begins to Process the Compostable Waste Generated at Earth Day Bagged Waste — The Grinding, Shredding and Adding of Wood Chips — Finished Pile Ready to be Composted

South Lake Tahoe Earth Day

In 2004, the South Lake Tahoe Earth Day festival committee began taking steps to expand the event and agreed to move the event to the Heavenly Ski Resort in order to target a larger audience. In the past, standard recycling had been a part of the event but this year Earth Day committee members and NDEP were interested in going beyond that. Earth Day committee members agreed that zero waste was a worthy goal and voted to use funds from the Earth Day budget to supply participating food vendors with compostable servingware made from cornstarch, wheat resin, and sugarcane fibers.

Four waste stations were placed around the event and monitored by community and California Conservation Corp volunteers who had been trained on the proper separation of compostable and non-compostable wastes. Volunteers also provided attendees with valuable information and education on the principals of Zero Waste and the day's efforts. On the day of the event, about 3,000 event attendees produced 126 lbs. of compostable materials, 70 lbs. of recyclables and 450 lbs. of trash. Through NDEP support, compostable wastes were taken by Full Circle Compost of Minden, Nevada for composting.

California Conservation Corp Members Volunteering at a Waste Station — Bands Jam to an Appreciative Audience

More photos of the Event (Click on Cameras)

Northern Nevada's Earth Day

Almost a Full House at Earth Day 2005! - Click Photo to Enlarge

Environmental Leadership (EL), a non-profit organization serving western Nevada, organizes and presents the annual Northern Nevada Earth Day in Reno. EL first started incorporating zero waste in to the event in 2003 and has made great strides in keeping the amount of waste associated with the event minimized. With support from NDEP, EL provided the food vendors with plates, cups, and other food serviceware made of biodegradable materials. Six waste stations were strategically placed around the event and "Green Team" volunteers, who had been trained on the proper separation of compostable and non-compostable wastes, monitored the waste stations. Volunteers also provided attendees with valuable information and education on the Zero Waste efforts and principals. On the day of the event, about 10,000 event attendees produced 467 lbs. of compostables, 350 lbs. of trash and nearly 1,000 lbs. of recyclables. Through NDEP support, compostable wastes were taken by Full Circle Compost of Minden, Nevada for composting.

More photos of the Event (Click on Cameras)

Truckee Tahoe Earth Day

The 2005 Truckee Tahoe Earth Day was held at the Village at Squaw Valley. The Tahoe Truckee Earth Day festival has been incorporating waste reduction practices in to the event since 2003. The Village at Squaw Valley worked with participating food vendors in the Village to ensure cooperation in zero waste efforts and to secure compostable servingware for each willing vendor. Three waste stations were positioned around the event and volunteers who had been trained on the proper separation of compostable and non-compostable wastes monitored trashcans. Volunteers also provided attendees with valuable information and education on Zero Waste efforts. On the day of the event, about 2,500 event attendees produced 142 lbs. of compostables, 60 lbs. of recyclables and 320 lbs. of trash Through NDEP support, compostable wastes were taken by Full Circle Compost of Minden, Nevada for composting.

Successes

Combined efforts from all three events resulted in 735 lbs. of compost and 1,110 lbs. of recyclables being diverted from the landfill. The events created approximately 1,120 lbs. of trash for an impressive diversion rate of 62.2% across all three events. Furthermore, the Guess the Waste competition and giveaways provided at each waste station educated many event goers on the concept of zero waste and innovative technologies.

Contest Winners Dwight Carlson and Hugh Denne with the Earth Machine Composter

Waste Contest Results

The methods used to calculate the waste generated at the events included a combination of direct measurement and estimation. At Reno's Earth Day, nearly all wastes generated were collected and weighed by volunteers and NDEP staff.

At the South Lake Tahoe and the Tahoe Truckee Earth Day festivals, all compostables were collected and weighed and approximately 50% of the recyclables and trash were weighed on the day of the events. Due to recycling processing in the respective communities, portions of the wastes were estimated based on Reno's event generation data. See graphs for waste comparisons between festivals and a break down of festival waste generated at each event

The contest winners' guesses at all three events were within 50 lbs. of the estimated waste generated. Reno contest winner Dwight Carlson, (top left) guessed 1899 lbs., when the actual waste generated was 1847 lbs.

South Lake contest winner Hugh Denne, (bottom left) guessed 554 lbs. of waste, and 576 lbs. of waste were generated. Tahoe Truckee winner Travis Crosby guessed 545 lbs., when the actual weight was 522 lbs.

Congratulations to the winners and thanks to everyone who came to the events and took the time to enter the contest!

Links

Earth Machine Composter

Earth Day 2005: — Moving Towards Zero Waste