Festivals Produce Big Recycling Numbers

Well more than a ton of organic waste and recyclable materials was collected July 14-17 from the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts in State College and People’s Choice Festival in Boalsburg.

That’s according to the Centre County Recycling & Refuse Authority, which noted in a release Tuesday that more than 47,000 water bottles were recycled between the two festivals. Stacked on top of each other, that many water bottles would climb 30,000 feet.

In all, 2,600 pounds of compostable and recyclable material was collected between the two festivals. More than 1,100 pounds of cardboard, plastic and glass were recycled at People’s Choice and 1,500 pounds of organics, plastic bottles, metal cans, lemonade cups and French fry buckets were recycled at Arts Festival, according to the authority.

‘It was a great year for recycling at our local festivals,’ education coordinator Amy Schirf said in the release. ‘Lemont Fest also had a plentiful recycling program.’

Volunteers have been working for several years to drastically reduce the waste produced at Arts Fest. Fest Zero — a group comprised of local residents, local government, county government, Penn State employees and festival organizers — has aimed to make it a zero waste festival. Compost and recycling bins were placed next to each trash can throughout the festival site and, for the first time, vendors purchased compostable plates and cutlery.