Recycle on the Go Success Stor
 Lowell Folk Festival  Recycling  Program
 In the 20 years since its inception, the free Lowell Folk Festival has become the largest event
 of its kind. With a waste diversion rate of 95 percent, the festival is recognized as a national
 model for recycling at large-scale special events.
Facts-at-a-Glance
   More than 200,000 people
   attend the three-day Lowell
   Folk Festival each year.
   The Lowell Folk Festival
   received the Massachusetts
   Recycling Coalition's 2004
   Institutional Recycling Award
   for making an outstanding
   contribution to recycling
   in Massachusetts.
   The program's diversion
   rate skyrocketed from 0
   percent in 1999 to  90 to
   95 percent in 2003.
                                Program Overview

   Approximately 130 volun-
   teers support the program
   each year, working four- to
   five-hour shifts.
 "If we (the National Park
 Service) are not out in
 front leading by example,
 then who will do it?'"
       - Ted Davis, Lowell
        National Historical
        Park Facility Manager
Photo courtesy of Lowell Folk Festival
First held in 1987, the annual Lowell Folk Festival
draws more than 200,000 people to Lowell,
Massachusetts, for the last weekend of July. Together,
the city of Lowell, the Lowell Festival Foundation,
Lowell National Historic Park (National Park Service),
and the National Council for the Traditional Arts
organize the festival. Six performance stages, along
with various food vendors, nonprofit exhibitions, crafts, and a family activities area, are
scattered throughout the downtown area. Although festival organizers recognized an
incredible opportunity for waste reduction at this event, the festival's large size posed
quite a challenge for a recycling program.

                             Nuts and Bolts
                             To ensure  the greatest possibility of success, organizers
                             carefully planned and implemented the festival's
                             recycling program in several steps:

                             • In 1999, a contractor performed an informal waste
                                assessment by interviewing vendors and visually
                                observing trash can contents. As expected, most of
                                the waste consisted of polystyrene food and beverage
                                containers, as well as plastic food service items such
                                as straws and plastic utensils.
   In 2000, program organizers placed approximately 100 44-gallon recycling collection
   bins next to trash cans. Signs with words,  pictures, and directional arrows were bolted
   to the side of each collection bin. Organizers  also established a central recycling center
   where materials were sorted and loaded onto trucks for recycling.
   In 2001,  festival organizers introduced a pilot composting program. Vendors were
   no longer allowed to dispense plastics, such as plastic utensils and straws, with food
   items; instead, organizers provided vendors with compostable cornstarch utensils
   free of charge.
   In 2002, full-scale recyclable and compostable materials recovery went into effect.
                                       Photo courtesy of Lowell Folk Festival

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Including the Public
   and Community
 Public and community
 participation is essential to the
 success of any recycling effort,
 especially one as large as the
 Lowell Folk Festival. Event
 organizers invite public and
 community participation by:

 • Recruiting volunteers from
   the community (see text box
   at bottom for more details).
   Calling participants and
   organizations personally to
   ask them to return in follow-
   ing years has yielded positive
   results.

 • Encouraging families to
   participate by joining the
   recyclables sorting team.
   Kids who help may take an
   "I promise to recycle" pledge
   and receive a "Recycling
   Team" button.

 • Creating an interactive educa-
   tion center in association with
   the Massachusetts Department
   of Environmental Protection.
   More than 25 recycling and
   composting films are shown
   throughout the festival. In
   recognition of their support,
   recycling program sponsors
   also receive a free booth in the
   education center.

 * Asking local businesses—in
   person—to avoid the use of
   plasticware. Unlike vendors
   who are on a contract with
   the festival, organizers cannot
   require businesses located
   nearby or inside the festival
   grounds to sign a contract
   discouraging the use of plastic
   utensils. But organizers still
   have had overwhelming coop-
   eration from local businesses
   they spoke with directly.
Volunteers
Volunteers are an essential element to the festival's
recycling program. Two months before each
festival, planners advertise for approximately 130
recycling volunteers. At the start of the volunteers'
shift, organizers give them maps of the festival
area and briefly explain their duties. The festival
is divided into four- to five-hour shifts with 15
recruits working each shift.
                                                              Photo courtesy of Lowell Folk Festival
Volunteers serve in  specific roles:
•  Recycling Captains: These volunteers, who
   have recycling program  experience, coordinate the efforts of all volunteer positions.
   Recycling captains also troubleshoot any problems and coordinate bin emptying efforts
   with runners via cell phones.

•  Vendor Captains: Organizers recognized that it would be difficult for vendors to col-
   lect recyclables during peak business hours. To solve this problem, vendor captains
   regularly stop at vendors'  stations and collect their recyclables. Vendor captains drive
   golf carts for fast and easy transportation.

•  Recycling Collectors/Runners: These volunteers drive golf carts to different collection
   locations. They empty full containers, load bags onto the carts, and bring the bags to
   the recycling center for sorting.

•  Recycling Processors: These volunteers are stationed at the recycling center and sort
   through the bags that the volunteers drop off.

Recycling program organizers provide all volunteers with "Lowell Folk Festival Volunteer"
t-shirts. Children who volunteer also receive hats.

The YWCA Summer Youth  Program, Lowell Boys & Girls Club, and community
churches provide event volunteers each year. Program organizers thank each of these
community groups with a $ 1,000 donation. The YWCA has helped the festival's recycling
program since the beginning, so it also receives the profits from the collected beverage
containers—which total approximately $800 each year.
   Recruiting Volunteers
   The Lowell Folk Festival organizers find volunteers in a number of ways:

   • Internet message boards and the Lowell Folk Festival Web site

   • Local newspapers and periodicals

   • Word-of-mouth

   • Local youth groups, community groups, and nonprofit organizations

   Contacting each participant and organization personally by phone to ask them to
   return in following years has yielded very positive results.

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How  It's Done
Gloved volunteers sort materials collected from commingled collection bins, as well as remove and dispose of contaminants
and excess liquid. Processors push the materials into hauling trucks stationed at the end of sorting tables.

Other volunteers sort compostable materials. These volunteers move all food and compostable serving items into the hauling
truck and remove noncompostable items for either recycling or disposal.

Composting
Composting at such a large event can be difficult due to contamination problems and the
types of food served. Program organizers address this issue by requiring vendors to use only
compostable or biodegradable serving utensils when serving food. For easier compliance,
program organizers supplied vendors with compostable utensils—free of charge—for the first
two years of the composting program. Festival organizers now sell vendors compostable
utensils at half price. However, to "close the loop" and achieve environmental benefits, these
utensils actually need to reach the compost bins. Runners empty vendor-area trash cans and              photo courtesy of Loweii Folk Festival
bring them to the recycling center, where processors sort the contents. Program organizers then send the compostable utensils and
food waste to a commercial composting facility, so all food waste, including meat and dairy products, can be composted.

The recycling coordinator retrieves the resulting compost one month before the next festival. Most of the compost is sent to
the city of Lowell and the Lowell National Historical Park for landscaping. Organizers bag the remaining compost to give to
festival attendees as souvenirs. Attendees are fascinated that the food waste they produced at the previous year's event can
fertilize their gardens the following year.

Vendors and Concessionaires
Vendors  and concessionaires are integral to a successful recycling program. Folk festival organizers contractually prohibit
them from dispensing nonrecyclable items, such as polystyrene food and beverage containers, or snack bags.
   Funding
   While the Lowell Folk Festival receives some financial assistance from the
   Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, the primary source
   of funding comes from sponsorship, including:

   •  Monetary donations. Many local businesses, such as grocery stores and
     retailers, often are eager to support community events.

   •  Service donations. Local haulers may be willing to provide free service for
     an event.

   •  Product donations. Local businesses often welcome an opportunity to contribute to
     their community by donating items such as hats, t-shirts, and compostable utensils.

   •  Advertising. Empty space on recycling bins provides an opportunity for local advertising.
     This space can be purchased or given to businesses to thank them for monetary, service,
     or product donations.

   •  Grants. Nonprofit organizations and state governments sometimes provide
     financial assistance in the form of grants and partnerships.
Photo courtesy of Lowell Folk Festival

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 Since its inception in 1999,
 the recycling program has:

 • Recycled 144,007 beverage
   containers.
 • Composted 165,000 meals
   (weight equivalent).
 • Distributed 9,300 bags of
   compost to attendees.
  "If we could make it
  happen at the Lowell
  Festival, we could make it
  happen anywhere—there
  are 250,000 to 300,000
  people! If we could do this
  here, my god, we're setting
  up a model for the rest of
  the country."
        - Pat Scanlon, Lowell
         Folk Festival Recycling
         and Composting
         Program Coordinator
                                                           Photo courtesy of Lowell Folk Festival
Challenges and Solutions
•  Challenge: Discouraging those who scav-
             enge for aluminum cans and
             plastic beverage bottles at the
             festival to exchange them for
             money.
   Solution:  Volunteers empty collection
             containers frequently—before
             they are full—to deter scavenging.

•  Challenge: Ensuring vendor compliance with festival requirements.
   Solution:  Organizers insert a "no plastic" clause into vendor contracts. Providing
             vendors with free compostable utensils the first two years of the
             program encouraged compliance.

•  Challenge: Changing the recycling habits of both festival attendees and vendors.
   Solution:  Organizers make recycling easy and obvious by placing collection bins
             next to every trash can and attaching signs with words, pictures, and
             directional arrows to the bins.
Reasons for Success
•  Festival organizers support the recycling
   program and make it easy for vendors to
   recycle.
•  The recycling program is designed by some'
   one with significant recycling experience.
•  Program expenses are paid for by
   sponsorships.
•  Community members and organizations
   volunteer for the event.
                                                           Photo courtesy of Lowell Folk Festival
•  Bags of compost from the previous year's festi-
   val remind attendees that food waste, when composted, can be useful.
                                   The Lowell Folk Festival Web site can be found at < www.lowellfolkfestival.orgX
&ER&
     United States
     Environmental Protection
     Agency
     Office of Solid Waste (5306P)
     EPA 530-F36-025
     December 2006
     www.epa.gov/recycleonthego
                                _r Recycled/Recyclable - Printed with Vegetable Oil Based Inks on 100% Postconsumer,
                                  Process Chlorine Free Recycled Paper
                                                          EPA is partnering with
                                                          other federal agencies,
                                                          states, municipalities, and
                                                          organizations to promote
                                                          recycling away from home.
                                                          www.epa.gov/recycleonthego

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