unity festival waste wise report - tweed shire · 2013-10-22 · unity festival 2010 waste wise...

UNITY Festival 2010 Waste Wise Report

Proudly Sponsored by

By Lisa Flower

UNITY festival 2010 Waste Wise Strategy

Waste wise event summary report – UNITY festival 2010

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The UNITY festival on 2 October 2010 at the Murwillumbah Showground is an annual event that showcases the cultural diversity in the Byron and Tweed Shires through music, dance and food. This year the event became a waste wise event and adopted a 4 bin strategy. Five bin

stations were set up around the festival site. Bin monitors were assigned to each bin to assist visitors to make the right bin choice. All bins were well signed with stickers, posters and information and sample waste items were hung above the bins to assist guests to identify the correct bin for disposing their waste. A total of 32 bins were provided by Solo Waste Recovery and Tweed Shire Council. The waste wise strategy was designed to sort waste into the following categories:

Category Types of festival waste Bin colour Quantity

General waste Plastic bags, nappies, meat scraps etc. Red lid 12

Recyclable waste Cans, coffee cups, plastic bottles and paper/cardboard etc.

Yellow lid 12

Commercially biodegradable waste

Cornstarch, sugarcane and bamboo products

Green lid 6

Domestically compostable waste

Vegetable and fruit waste (no meat) Black circular bin 2

Of the 12 recycling bins, 3 bins were contaminated beyond acceptable levels and sent landfill. All 6 green bins went to the green recycling station for composting and the small amount of organic food scraps collected (5kg) went to domestic compost. Overall, 57% of waste generated went to landfill while 43% was diverted from landfill for either recycling or commercial and domestic composting. An estimated 5370 litres of waste was generated. Although the total weight of waste was not recorded, an estimate from over half the bins weighed indicates total waste could be in the vicinity of 686kgs. With an estimated attendance of over 1500 people, waste per person calculates at .45kg. An audit of a red bin at the conclusion of the festival indicates that there was considerable contamination with 38% of waste content being compostable or recyclable waste. The audit of a yellow and a green lid bin showed acceptable levels of contamination. The 2010 UNITY festival waste wise strategy has been deemed successful and event organisers now have a benchmark for future events. A number of recommendations are listed at the conclusion of the report and will be adopted in our efforts to continually improve the design and implementation of the waste wise strategy. Many thanks to festival sponsors: Tweed Shire Council, Solo Waste Recovery, Climate Wave Enterprises and GreenPack for their assistance in helping implement the UNITY festival Waste Wise Strategy. And a special thank you to Karen Rudkin from North East Waste Forum for her valuable advice and information.


Waste wise Event Summary Report UNITY festival 2010

EVENT BACKGROUND The UNITY festival is a colourful family event that showcases the rich diversity of the region through music, dance and food. It also aims to create opportunities for greater social interaction between the many diverse communities in the Tweed and Byron Shires while at the same time become a major tourist attraction that brings positive economic benefits to the area. The 2010 event opened with a sacred fire ceremony. The festival entertainment included; a Dance Stage with 8 different cultural dances, a Main Stage with 10 bands, a market place offering both international foods and wares, a dedicated kid’s area with workshops and activities, art installations, a history display of

Event Details

Name of Event UNITY festival 2010

Date Saturday 2 October, 2010 12 noon to 10pm

Venue The Branding Rail end of the Murwillumbah Showground

Organisation Staging Event

UNITY festival Inc.

Anticipated Crowd Size Aimed at 2000+ but due to rain approx 1500

Event Activities

Opening Ceremony Dance Stage showcasing culturally and linguistically diverse communities traditional dance, music and costume Main Stage showcasing musicians from Byron and Tweed Shire Market stalls and food vendors Kidz Korner with activities and workshops using recycled materials

Existing Facilities Branding Rail with bar and undercover dining area, large 60metre shed for Dance Stage, undercover areas for Kid’s activities and production use.

Number of participating Stallholders

Food and Drink: Crepes, Thai Sweets, Coffee Van, Juice Van, Homemade Ice-cream, Sushi, Filipino Food, North African Food, Indonesian Food, Bush Tucker and Fish and Chips, Chai/Cake Tent, Hari Krishna Food, Vegetarian Delights, The Branding Rail Bar. Arts/crafts: Hair Wraps & Beading, Eco lifestyle goods, South Sea Island and Torres Strait Island arts and crafts, Massage, Handmade Silk Clothing, Native American flutes, Aboriginal Art and Craft. Other: St Josephs Youth Service, Gecko – Solar Awareness Display, Kid’s Workshops, Art Installations, History Display, Shoes, GC Energy Services.


how the culturally and linguistically diverse communities arrived in the Tweed, an Earth Council Tent offering adult workshops and presentations and a bar. The UNITY festival is its second year. The 2009 inaugural event was a 7 hour show, the 2010 festival a 10 hour event and the 2011 festival is planned to be an 18 hour event starting on the Friday night. The 5 year plan is to have a sustainable event that extends over 2-3 days. Waste System and Bin planning A festival objective is to be an ‘earth friendly’ event. This is to be achieved by monitoring the festival footprint and each year implementing new strategies to reduce its environmental impact. The UNITY management team is committed to minimise waste and maximise recycling. The 2010 strategy aimed to capture data on waste generated to set benchmarks for future UNITY festivals. Using templates from the North East Waste Forum website, UNITY management devised a strategy to minimise the amount of festival waste ending in land fill. UNITY festival sponsors, Climate Wave Enterprises came on board to build in eco-friendly strategies and assist with post event reporting. Managing Director Guil Araujo also assisted with the waste audit post event. On the Friday before the event Karen Rudkin from North East Waste Forum gave UNITY festival marketing manager Lisa Flower and Climate Wave Enterprises Director, Guil Araujo an overview on the best way to audit waste and provided templates, case studies, tips and extra signage. Her assistance was greatly appreciated. Market stallholders all received via email Tweed Council’s Stall holder guidelines that clearly outlined what packaging requirements are acceptable and unacceptable at the UNITY festival. They were also directed to the website to access a local guide to biodegradable packaging and suppliers. In addition they all received an email inviting them to a 5% discount off wholesale prices from UNITY sponsor and supplier of biodegradable packaging, GreenPack. Bins and bin stations Table 1 outlines the number and type of bins provided free of charge from Solo Waste Recovery (SWR) and Tweed Shire Council (TSC):

Tweed Shire Council also provided 12 posts with yellow flags saying “Do the Right Bin”. These were placed on either side of the bin stations.

# Bin type Type of festival waste Supplied by

x6 Green lid Commercially compostable waste such as cornstarch cutlery, PLA wine goblets, bamboo & sugarcane plates

SWR

x12 Yellow lid Recyclables: coffee cups, plastic water bottles, aluminium cans

6 from SWR 6 from TSC

x12 Red lid General waste 6 from SWR 6 from TSC

x2 Black compost bins

Food scraps (no meat) TSC


Five bin stations were set up around the venue. See separate pdf attached for station set up. Three of the stations comprised of a yellow, red and green lidded bin placed together in a row. The other two stations were positioned within the main food and drinking area and comprised of the three bins plus the extra compost bin for food scraps. To assist people to make the right choice, bins were individually signed on the body of the bin and lids. The green lid bins had samples of bamboo and sugar cane plates and biocups and PLA wine goblets hanging above them. The intention was to make it ‘fun’ and educational. Each station also had a poster describing “What goes in what bin’. At each end of the bin stations where yellow flags saying “Do the right bin”.

A happy face on a bamboo plate hangs over the green bin; the four bin system; a ‘What goes in what bin’ sign attached to the “Do the right bin’ sign post.

Lisa Flower took the role of waste wise coordinator and recruited and assigned 10 volunteer bin monitors. A bin monitor was assigned to a bin station to assist people to choose the right bin. Two third year environmental science students, Emily Brommitt and Pamela Bianchi took the role of team leaders on the day. They briefed each volunteer on arrival. There were two bin shifts, the first from 12 -5pm and the second from 5-10pm. There were 10 volunteers in the waste wise team. It must be noted that the bin monitors frequently audited the bins during the festival, transferring incorrect waste items to the right bin. Some of the yellow and red lid bins where filled and replaced. The location of these bins was not recorded but it can be assumed they were in the high traffic areas of the Main Stage, Bar and Market areas. They are listed under Extra in Table 2 below. The volumes of each bin were roughly estimated and recorded on the following day of the festival. From this data we can estimate a total of 5370 litres of waste was produced by the festival.

Four bin station near the Main Stage


Data collected

Table 1

All bins were collected on the Tuesday following the event. Solo provided the weights of each bin they supplied and they are listed on Table 3. The red numbers indicate the recycling bins that were contaminated, in this case by up to 40% and were sent to landfill. All green bin waste went to the green waste facility for composting. TSC bins were not weighed. Table 3

Bin # Yellow Green Red

1 25.74 18.20 49.00

2 30.00 10.50 17.31

3 23.86 12.80 21.29

4 23.10 15.40 25.00

5 17.30 11.50 56.00

6 12.80 10.20 0.00

Totals 132.8 78.6 168.6

Of the 6 yellow bins supplied by TSC, contaminated waste was less than 10% and all bins went to the recycling depot.

Bin Location

RED LID Volume (L)

GREEN LID Volume (L)

YELLOW LID Volume (L)

Main Stage

230

160 240

Bar

240 120 230

Market

230 80 240

Kids Korner 20 60 80

Dance 100 60 80

Extra 200 10 230

Extra 240 240

Extra 240 240

Extra 220

Total (L) 1720 490 1580


Total waste in Kilograms Using the data in Table 3 as a guide and assuming the TSC bins contained similar weights, we can estimate as per Table 4, the total festival waste to be approximately 686kgs. With an estimated 1500 festival goers this equates to approximately .45kg waste generated per person. Table 4

Recycled waste 9 bins (3 went to landfill) 212.40

Green waste 6 bins 78.6

General waste 15 (including 3 recycled bins) 390.40

Food waste (compost) 2 compost bins 5

Total waste produced 32 bins in total 686.40 kgs

Graph 1 shows that 57% of waste generated went to landfill while 43% was diverted from landfill for either recycling or commercial and domestic composting.

Graph 1 – percentages of waste generated at the UNITY festival

1%

11%

57%

31%Recycled

General

Green

Food scraps

Audit results Three bins were audited on the day after the event by Lisa Flower and Guil Araujo. Each bin was emptied and waste sifted through to gauge contamination levels and contamination culprits. The results of the bin audit are detailed in Table 5, 6 and 7 below. This small sample is indicative only and cannot be used to substantiate any overall results. It provides a preliminary insight into the level of understanding festival goers had regarding bin use and the auditing processes for future festivals. Table 5 Red lid bin – general waste

Contents of a red general waste bin are shown in the image below. Up to 25% of the waste was biodegradable sugarcane plates. Some recyclable coffee cups and food scraps were also evident.

Bin Location

Volume of bin audited (L)

Contamination

% Plastic bottles

Paper cups

Biodegradable items

Food scraps

Next to bar

240 litre 38% 1% 2% 25% 10%


If you assume this bin is indicative of all red lid bins, this audit indicates that if all recyclables and biodegradable material were separated successfully ie: compostable plates put in green bins and coffee cups and plastic bottles placed in recycled bins and food scraps put into the compost bins, there could be potentially an extra 653.6 litres (over 2.5 x 240 litre bins) of waste diverted from landfill.

Table 6 Yellow lidded bin – recycled waste

Contents of a yellow recycle bin. The recyclables that were found in the bin: 10% plastic bottles, 50% coffee cups, 30% cans and 5% biodegradable items such as the PLA wine goblets.

Table 7 Green lidded bin – commercially biodegradable waste

Bin Location


Contamination

% Plastics non recyclable

Biodegradable items

Food scraps

Main Stage

240 litre 10% 5% 5% Residue only

Bin Location


Contamination

% Plastics non recyclable

Other recyclables

Food scraps

Main Stage

160 litre 3% 0 2% small amount of paper cups and one can

1% residue food on plates


27/07/10 an article in the Tweed Daily News promoting UNITY as

green and clean.

Contents of the green waste bin. Most of the waste comprised of the sugarcane plates and some cornstarch cutlery.

The two compost bins for food scraps contained approximately 5kgs of food scraps. There was no contamination in these bins. Waste wise photos courtesy of Climate Wave Enterprises.

Event summary and recommendations Media and promotion Overall the waste wise message was well promoted both on the UNITY festival website and through media articles. The website and on the reverse side of sponsor and guest tickets, local guests were encouraged to bring their own eating utensils to assist to reduce festival waste. The waste wise message was also promoted to UNITY festival e-newsletter subscribers and on all emails with information about the event. On the day, a script was provided to the MCs of the Main and Dance Stage to make hourly announcements requesting visitors use the right bins and that the festival is aiming to be waste wise. The council Waste Wise event banner was also displayed at the entry to the festival and yellow flags on white poles with “Do the right bin’ were positioned at each end of the bin stations for easy sighting. Bin monitors offered friendly assistance to visitors to help them make the right bin choices. Recommendation

All media releases to include the waste wise message.

Posters need to also reinforce this message.

As the festival expands to a 2 day event and sees more visitors camping at the festival site, they will be encouraged to bring their own plates, cutlery and cups.

To encourage festival goers to BYO utensils, the idea of offering a small discount at food/bar outlets needs to be reviewed in conjunction with food vendors.

The idea of selling a package of recyclable utensils ie: plate, cutlery and cup (ones that visitors can take home) for purchase at the gate needs to be explored. Adequate facilities to wash utensils will also need to be implemented.

Waste management at the event To run a successful waste wise event it is essential to ensure you have the commitment of event organisers and volunteers at all stages of the event planning right through to implementation on the day of the event and the final clean up at the end. Due to poor weather on the day of the festival and a shortage of volunteers in other areas, three bin monitors were relocated to different tasks. This left 3 bin stations without a bin monitor and with a


complex 4 bin system, festival goers would have been confused at what bin to use. In addition, bins were not undercover, and the rain would have reduced the time visitors had to read the signs or ask questions. Stallholders are key stakeholders in the waste wise strategy. Due to poor weather conditions and time being diverted to other activities, not all market stall holders were visited by the waste wise coordinator, thus not all were instructed to separate waste items or even be alerted to bins station locations. As a consequence, many large bags of mixed waste were found in yellow and red lidded bins at the end of the night. After the event, Lisa Flower and Guil Araujo audited one bin of each colour. Due to incessant rain and an over-commitment of time and energy, more bins were not audited. A total weight of festival waste was not determined due to the separate collection of Tweed Council bins and Solo bins. Recommendations

Particularly in inclement or hot weather, bin stations to be positioned in undercover areas.

The four bin system needs to be reviewed. Confusion exists with recycled and biodegradable items. Need to engage and discuss with Council, Solo and Karen Rudkin from the North East Waste Forum to finesse strategy.

Stallholders need to be engaged on the day to encourage them to use the right bin. Bin monitors could be assigned a number of food vendors to visit periodically to dispose of any waste.

Stallholders could be encouraged to educate customers at point of purchase as to what bin their plates/cups/cutlery can be put into.

A bin monitor at each station is essential for a successful 4 bin strategy.

Assign more volunteers in the day after auditing process to ensure more bins are audited.

A more coordinated approach between Solo and Tweed Shire Council to ensure all bins are weighed so as to provide an accurate weight of total waste generated.

Packaging The organisers informed those running food/drink stalls about the need to provide biodegradable or recyclable packaging prior to the event via two different emails and phone calls. A number of stallholders contacted organisers to clarify the use of a product. The sushi van changed packaging from non-recyclable plastic containers to compostable paper plates and instead of having individual sachets of soy sauce and wasabi, offered a bottle of each for dispensing at the counter. The coffee vendor eliminated plastic spoons and offered washable metal spoons and wooden stirrers instead. He also didn’t provide plastic lids unless a request was made. PLA biodegradable wine goblets were sponsored by Green Pack for the bar instead of the non recyclable white plastic cups provided last year. One stallholder provided quality black plastic plates which he asked people to return for a 10 cent refund so he could wash and reuse them. Recommendation:

Future events will continue to encourage all stallholders to minimise packaging.

Biodegradable and recyclable options will be the preferred packaging options.

To build in an incentive for the most conscientious ‘green’ stallholder ie: reduced fee.


Equipment The 30 x 240litre bins plus 2 domestic compost bins proved to be adequate for collecting all waste. The strategic location of highly visible and well labelled bins and bin stations around the site, also helped reduce littering and kept the area clean and green. Recommendation

Consider making it easier for stallholders to separate recycling from garbage and compost at their stalls. They could be provided with a recycling bag/container and food compost bag/container which could then be taken to the recycling and compost bins when full or at the end of the event.

Plastic water bottles Due to the wet and cool weather, water bottles were not a major component of the bins. However, on a warm day, water bottles would have most certainly been a major contributor to recycling bins. Recommendation

Water could be provided at a refill station (bulk water containers) to allow the refilling of water bottles when required. This could be provided for a lesser fee (Woodford Folk Festival charge $1.00 for a 500ml bottle). Tweed Shire Council health department has said this is not an option due to health risks. Investigation in to this matter would be worthwhile as it could greatly reduce future recycling efforts.

Organics (fruit and vegetable scraps) Organic food waste was collected in the two domestic compost bins situated nearest to the food vendors. Visitors were required to scrape their plates into the compost bin then dispose of plates in an appropriate bin. Bin monitors helped to remove the compost lid when needed but visitors eager to move around, or with hands full, simply found it easier to dispose of the plate with contents intact. Consequently the green lid bin for biodegradable plates had some food remaining on them. There was quite a bit of extra festival waste like green waste from the art installations and recyclable waste from the Kid’s Korner that ended up in general waste at the end of the festival. Recommendations

A table to be placed near the organic bin for visitors to place items before scraping and sorting waste into correct bins.

Selected bins to be left out at different areas of the venue for ease of pack up.

Festival contractors to be informed and instructed of the bin strategy before and during pack up.

Bin monitors to assist with pack up duties and monitor the disposal of waste items.

unity festival waste wise report - tweed shire · 2013-10-22 · unity festival 2010 waste wise...

Documents