With just a little planning and preparation, it is actually quite easy to have events as large as Earth Day-, that create no waste for a landfill. However, because this year’s Earth Day did not reach its 100 percent zero waste goal, there is obviously still work to be done on educating the public and encouraging participation. At the five Zero Waste Stations throughout the Village at Squaw this year, volunteers were able to properly separate everything people threw away. Unfortunately, a few unattended trashcans acquired compost, recycling, and outside trash mixed together, and, despite best efforts to dig and sort through it, much of the cumulative debris had to be sent to the landfill due to contamination. Recycling has been in the mainstream for over 20 years, but the idea of a Zero Waste event, with composting all non-recyclable materials, is relatively new. At this year’s Earth Day 2009 event, the majority of the cups, plates, and utensils used were made from a corn- or sugar-based polymer, and will biodegrade very easily. (Traditional ‘paper’ plates and plastic utensil products are derived from petroleum, and even if they ‘break down’ in hundreds of years, they will still leave chemicals in the environment.). Hopefully, as more people understand the reasons for making an event a Zero Waste one, they will commit to taking actions towards making Tahoe/Truckee, and the world, a greener place. These figures should serve as a starting point for the community.
• Compost – 77 lbs.
• Recycle – 376 lbs.
• Garbage – 98 lbs.
• Total – 551 lbs.
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