Printer
Friendly Version
Going green takes on a whole
new meaning at the Milwaukee
Irish Fest. For the past eight
years, this popular Fest has promoted waste reduction, recycling
and other environmental conservation message with 'Greenwish
Village.' In 1997, the Be
Smart Coalition, Keep
Greater Milwaukee Beautiful, Inc.
and Milwaukee Irish Fest teamed up to pilot a festival waste
reduction project with four components: education, cup reuse,
cup recycling and vendor information:
- A 'Leprecan' promotion encouraged festival-goers to
keep souvenir cups or recycle them at designated collection
containers.
- Refills in souvenir cups were offered at a reduced price
at all three Milwaukee Irish Fest soda vendors and were
promoted by Be Smart (Save Money And Reduce Trash) signs.
- All 7,500 souvenir cups were sold and it is estimated
that over 5,000 were taken home by visitors. Vendors
used counters to track number of refills sold (500 refills
were counted). Festival
Vendor Tip sheets were hand-distributed to the nearly
200 Milwaukee Irish Fest retail and food vendors at the
beginning of the festival.
- Cups collected for recycling were made into a 'recycled
lumber' picnic table.
- Greenwish Village offered displays, games and prizes
with a waste reduction theme. This motivated festival
goers to reduce waste both at the event and at home.
- The above efforts contributed to a 20-25% reduction
in waste disposed by Milwaukee Irish Fest as compared
to the previous year's data (adjusted for attendance).
For more information on the
Irish Fest cup program, contact Milwaukee Irish Fest at
414-476-3378 or call the Be Smart Information Hotline
at 414-272-3334
