Zero. Zilch. Zip. None.

SISTERS — Standing in front of the main-stage tent at the Sisters Folk Festival, Sisters High School senior Tori DeLeone helped music-lovers figure out their trash.

The festival was trying to go “zero-waste” — and divert trash either to a compost pile or recycling center, instead of the landfill. Festival vendors were required to serve pizza, curry and crepes on compost-able plates with compostable cutlery. And visitors had three options when they went to throw items away — compost, recycle or trash.

DeLeone was one of the many volunteers stationed by the bins to help people with their choice.

“I think it’s really a core value of this event,” DeLeone said, before interrupting herself. “That can be composted,” she told a festival-goer.

The Sisters Folk Festival has been working for several years to reduce waste at the event, said Katy Yoder, events and development director with the event, and is getting closer to the “zero-waste” goal every year.

“It was seeing the waste that was being produced, and saying, ‘It’s time for us to step up to the plate,’” she said. “We’re a folk festival, our constituency is going to demand that. We want to do that as much as they do.”

A number of Central Oregon events, from the Tour Des Chutes to the Earth Day Fair, are working to reduce the amount of trash sent to the landfill, said Katy Bryce, sustainability advocate with Bend’s Environmental Center.

“Events here in Central Oregon are a big part of our community, but they also generate a lot of waste,” Bryce said.

Setting up recycling and compost bins, and working with vendors and the garbage companies can help reduce that waste, she said, even if some material is still sent to the landfill.

Tour Des Chutes, Bryce noted, generated 688 gallons of waste — but almost 60 percent of that was composted, more than a quarter was recycled, and only 14 percent of the waste was sent to the landfill.

“The term zero-waste sounds pretty daunting, but it’s really a catchy term for waste reduction,” she said, “recycling, composting, reusing, buying less packaging, things like that.”

While having to think before throwing items away might cause people to pause, she said, the more events that try to reach zero-waste, the more natural it will become.

“It’s still pretty new,” Bryce said. “The more we do it, the more visible it is, it’ll be easier.”

Brad Bailey, owner of Bend Garbage & Recycling, said he’s seen a growing interest in waste reduction from event organizers.

“We’re seeing most of the events follow suit, and have a more greener event, diverting material from the landfill,” Bailey said.

On his end, it involves developing different containers and signs to help people determine what goes where. At events, many people need help figuring it out, especially with relatively new compostable items they might not have seen before.

“They’re there, they’re having a good time, and they’re not necessarily there thinking about waste prevention and recycling,” he said. “A lot of work has to come from the event organizers.”

Benji Nagel, a Sisters High graduate who lives in Ashland, took on the task of making the Sisters Folk Festival more environmentally friendly.

Two years ago, festival organizers brought in recycling bins. Last year, composting was added to the mix.

“We’ve sort of upped our efforts a bit,” Nagel said.

Last year, by comparing the volume of compost and recycling materials with the number of Dumpsters filled with trash, he estimated that 60 percent of waste in some of the main areas of the Sisters Folk Festival was diverted from the landfill. That number climbed to more than 75 percent during this year’s festival, he said.

And at the 2010 folk festival, composting, recycling and trash bins were staffed by high school volunteers, who ensured the recyclable cups and compostable spoons went into the correct bins.

This year, the festival was sponsored in part by Bend’s Hydro Flask, Nagel said, which gave artists reusable bottles as a way to combat the sea of plastic bottles.

“I really want to do away with water bottles,” Nagel said.

Nagel said he wants to keep reducing the amount of waste sent to landfills every year, especially as more people come to Sisters for the festival.

“The festival is expanding. We want to keep up with that,” he said.

The requirement for vendors to use recyclable or compostable utensils wasn’t a big change for David Haskell, owner of Crazy Dave’s Organic Sodaworks and a vendor at the festival. He already uses compostable and recyclable cups, he said.

“I wouldn’t mind if we were seeing that more and more,” he said, noting that restaurants and airports could do more with composting. “It’s just the way we’re all going.”

And Kathy Jackson, owner of Martolli’s Pizza in Sisters, said she didn’t have to look far to find biodegradable plates for her pizza slices.

“They were real easy to find. It must be getting more popular,” she said, noting that anything people can do to recycle is great.

“Can you imagine how many people have been here?” Jackson said late Saturday evening. “(That’s) a big pile of stuff.”

And it’s a welcome development for Darcy Hagin, a Sisters Folk Festival patron who made a New Year’s resolution this year not to use plastic utensils and usually has to carry her own cutlery to events like this.

“I’m totally in support,” she said. “It’s really neat they’re doing that, and I hope people across the board are supporting it.”

Kate Ramsayer can be reached at 541-617-7811 or at kramsayer@bendbulletin.com.

Published Daily in Bend Oregon by Western Communications, Inc. © 2010
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