Getting Greener

It is very possible that I’ve made a mistake. A huge mistake. Enthused by the prospect of the Festival at Sandpoint going green, amazed at the speed with which it has done so, curious to see what a green music festival would look like, I did something I should have thought through a little more carefully.

I volunteered.

Let me amend that statement: I volunteered to help clean up. Not every night, and not every shift, unlike some of my braver and more generous colleagues, but enough to be a little scared. The greening of the Festival at Sandpoint is, after all, an enormous undertaking. Every plate, fork, napkin, can, beer bottle, and spaghetti noodle will belong in a specific bag. Each one of those bags will be emptied into a specific bin, which will be taken to a specific location that can use it. What starts as a plate holding your Thai noodles will end as fertilizer on a farm. And as the head of the clean-up crew, Ellen Weissman, made very clear at the volunteer picnic, one little slip-up can destroy the entire endeavor. My palms are sweaty even as I type this.

But let’s begin at the beginning. The Festival at Sandpoint is going green. This means that most of the colossal mountains of waste generated by concertgoers will not be dumped into a landfill. Specifically, glass and plastic will go to Waste Management, Bonner County Waste will take the cans, and Heritage Farms will be accepting compostable materials.

And here’s where things get exciting. Several food vendors will serve food and drinks in cornstarch-based dinnerware. Plates, cups and utensils from these vendors will be sent to Heritage Farms in Cocollala, where they will be layered with other compost, and ultimately serve as fertilizer for hay fields. So as you enjoy your pizza slices or cold beer, also savor the thought that everything you’re holding will someday help feed a cow, which may someday feed you and your family. And while only a few vendors are using compostable dinnerware this year, the Festival is encouraging the rest to get on board as soon as possible. If all goes well, compostable plates and utensils will be mandatory within two years.

To facilitate this undertaking, the Festival is positioning volunteers at six trash stations around Memorial Field. Each station will have five trash bags. This is where you, the concertgoer, and I, the volunteer, will have to work together. Even in the dark. Even when you, the concertgoer, has knocked back a few, and I, the volunteer, am muttering to myself in dazed confusion about how I got into this mess. We have to work together to get the right materials in the right bags because cross-contamination will defeat all of the efforts put into the project. Here’s what you need to know:

? Landfill trash – goes in black bags. This will include non-compostable plates, utensils, Styrofoam, plastics that are not coded 1 or 2, unidentifiable materials.

? Glass – goes in black bags in clearly marked trash cans.

? Compost – will go in white, compostable bags. Food scraps and cornstarch-based dinnerware belong in these bags. Paper plates and napkins can also be composted.

? Plastics – If coded 1 or 2, they will go into new, clear bags that will be set up at each station.

? Cans – will also go into clear bags. We are encouraged to smash cans to save space IF we can do so without distracting from the performers. The last thing I need is Clint Black staring me down for ruining his harmonica solo.

Many volunteers have brought this ambitious endeavor to fruition. In addition to the Festival team, the Sandpoint Transition Initiative’s waste group has played an integral part in organizing the project. And it should also be noted the infrastructure established by the Festival’s ‘green team’ was put in place years ago by Barbara Veraniam, who passed away in January of 2004. Friends and colleagues of Barbara are honoring her years of community service with a special bench to be dedicated at City Beach at noon on August 16th.

These are exciting days for everyone interested in creating a greener, cleaner Sandpoint. Terrifying for one volunteer on the clean-up crew. But exciting.