Special Events: Recycling and Waste Management

Special events entertain Wisconsin residents as well as benefit local communities and special interest groups. For most people, special events are a lot of fun, but for event organizers, they are a lot of work! A well-planned event requires cooperation, coordination, dedication, and attention to details. One important detail is managing all the trash and recyclables that a special event generates. This briefing paper will help you identify ways to manage and reduce these materials ... and obey the law too!

State Law

Wisconsin’s Recycling Law requires everyone in the state to recycle whether they are at home, at work, or at a special event. Special event coordinators must make provisions for recycling:

glass bottles and jars
aluminum and steel/tin cans
plastic containers (#1 & #2)
newspapers
corrugated cardboard
office paper*
other items depending on community

* Office paper is defined as "high grade printing and writing papers from offices in non-residential facilities and properties."

Note: Some communities are served by incinerators and have special provisions for recycling. Some communities recycle additional items. Check with local officials.

Identifying and Reducing Your Waste Stream

In preparing for your event, try to predict the types of trash and recyclables that may be generated. The best way to do this is to ask vendors, concessionaires, and others what they plan to bring with them. They may bring cardboard, food containers, napkins, and paper or plastic cups and plates. Also, check with your waste hauler to determine the waste stream of past events. Next, work with vendors, concessionaires, and haulers to identify how to reduce or recycle more of the waste stream. Consider:

Offering reusable beverage containers, such as mugs or pitchers, as promotional items for your event. Be aware that employees at concession stands must be trained how to refill them to minimize the risk of contamination. Check with your local health officials for details.
Purchasing durable decorations and signs that can be used year after year.
Requiring all concessionaires and vendors to use the same type of recyclable cups, glasses, or food containers. Work with them to identify suppliers and markets for the recyclables.

At the Minnesota State Fair, all licensed beverage vendors are required to dispense their products in laminated polystyrene foam cups, provided to vendors at cost by the fair. Fair visitors are asked to participate in the recycling program by placing their used cups in special cup recycling barrels located throughout the fairgrounds. Since the program’s initiation in 1991, more than 12 million cups have been recycled!

Designing Your Recycling Program

Once you know the materials that may be generated, you can determine how and where to set up your event’s recycling program. Your options will vary depending on the size of the event. Be realistic — work with your hauler to identify where you can best capture recyclables; consider:

1. Behind the scenes. Here is where concessionaires and vendors control materials like cardboard and large metal, plastic, and glass containers.

2. Areas open to the public. Here is where event participants and the public will be asked to recycle materials like newspapers and specific beverage and food containers.

3. Event Offices. Here is where your staff will be asked to recycle office paper, newspapers, cardboard, bottles, and cans.

If you decide to recycle behind the scenes, be sure that these recycling bins or barrels are accessible to concessionaires and vendors only and secured to avoid contamination. Make certain that all concessionaires and vendors and their employees know about the recycling program and where bins or barrels are located.

If event participants and the public are going to recycle, be sure that recycling bins or barrels are readily available and easily accessible. Locate recycling bins or barrels close to trash receptacles near concession areas, rest rooms, entrances, and exits, and make sure they are clearly marked. Consider signs, color, and style to mark the difference between trash and recycling containers. Remember, event goers are not always as attentive as you may want them to be.

Recycling "stations" staffed by volunteers who assist the public may be necessary the first year you decide to use a public recycling program. Whatever you choose to do, be sure to monitor the recycling barrels or bins. Usually it is not recyclables in the trash that cause problems, but trash in the recycling bin.

Recycling at the 1996 Olympics

The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games and their recycling contractor, Royal Recycling/Recycling Development Corporation, developed a very successful recycling program for spectators and athletes at the 1996 Olympics. They focused on consistency and visibility by using large blue recycling bins that were clearly labeled in three languages accompanied by pictograms of the appropriate material.

Blue bins for plastic bottles and cans were paired with trash bins in the Olympic Village, competition venues, and hospitality and outdoor areas. Additional blue bins, similarly labeled, were placed in residential buildings in the Village to recover paper generated by the athletes. Blue bins for cans, bottles, corrugated cardboard, and paper were placed in all media, results, and administrative areas. Brown bins were placed in the Village kitchens to recover food waste.

The Committee identified usage patterns within the first days of the Games and bin locations and pick-up schedules were adjusted to ensure that the bins were never full. Announcers at each venue encouraged spectators to use the blue bins for recycling cans and bottles.

This program recycled more than 20 million bottles and cans and diverted almost 50 percent of the waste generated at the Games. Ninety percent of all cans, bottles, and papers were recycled at the Main Press Center and 75 percent at the competition venues!

BioCycle, Sept 96 [www.earthcrew.com]

Animal Waste

Some special events feature livestock which generate a large amount of waste — manure and animal bedding. This should be composted or spread on farm fields, not thrown away. Contact the local agricultural agent for a list of farmers, private markets, or compost sites to determine the best place to take animal waste. Also ask your hauler for suggestions. Make sure animal waste is stored far away from concession areas and in a location that reduces the risk of contaminating it with other trash. Work with animal exhibitors to ensure proper management.

Special Wastes

Any special wastes associated with your event, such as hydraulic fluid, motor oil, tires, batteries, fluorescent bulbs, and medical wastes (sharps) cannot be placed in the trash. Discuss management of these items with your hauler. Make sure everyone involved with your event clearly understands how they should handle these materials. Contact your regional DNR office for more advice.

Contracts

Most special events require contracts with haulers, concessionaires, owners of the event site, and others. Be certain that all of these contracts clearly define how trash and recyclables will be managed and who is responsible. Never assume that the waste contract automatically covers recycling too. Other things to consider:

Check the permit from the municipality where you are holding your event. What does it say about recycling? What are the municipality’s recycling ordinances? What items must be recycled?
Check with the owners of the event site or their maintenance people. What trash and recycling services do they provide? Do they have bins or barrels you can use for trash and recycling? Do you need to arrange for pickup when they become full? Whose staff will empty them? How much will it cost?
Check your contracts with concessionaires and vendors. Do you clearly state how recycling will be done at your event and who is responsible? Is there a penalty for failure to comply? Are you requiring them to use specific items for serving the public? Are they required to train their employees how to recycle or refill reusables?
Discuss the following issues with your hauler ahead of time and write them into your contract:
- How many bins or barrels will be needed for trash and recycling and who will supply them? Where will they be located?
- Who is responsible for emptying trash and recycling containers? How often and where will they be emptied?
- Where will dumpsters (and animal waste sites) be located? How often will they be emptied? What time of day?
- How will special wastes be managed?

Education

Education is the key to successfully managing recyclables and solid waste at your event. Haulers, concessionaires, visitors, volunteers, maintenance/grounds people, and the media — all need to be made aware of your program. Here are some tips:

Keep your messages and directions simple.
Appeal to peoples’ concern for the environment and their civic pride to encourage participation.
Clearly identify your trash and recycling containers — use distinct colors, put signs on top and on the sides of containers, use picturers as well as words.
Enlist local groups or clubs to help promote and manage your program.
Give a consistent recycling message throughout the event — use the same signs and colors at all sites and use recycled materials in your brochures, posters, cups, etc.
If recycling cannot be done at every location where trash is collected, post a sign giving the location of the recycling stations.
Remember recycling varies from community to community. Be sure that everyone knows what you are recycling at your location. Don’t assume anything.

Making recycling noticeable for the public also gives you the opportunity for some good public relations. Posters, banners, stickers, cups — all could promote recycling along with your event and sponsors. Let the media know about your "green event"— they may do a special report or story!

Contact your regional DNR office for more information on promoting recycling and waste reduction.

Program Evaluation

After your event is over, discuss recycling and waste management with your staff, concessionaires, vendors, property owners, and haulers. What worked? What didn’t? How can you improve the program for next year? How can you make it easier for everyone to participate?

Thank You

Thank you for considering waste reduction and recycling. Your efforts, no matter how big or small, show others your concern for the environment. Remember, every time you reduce, reuse, or recycle you are doing a good thing for yourself as well as for others!

Credits and Acknowledgements

Produced by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources in cooperation with:

Rene Daniels, Wausau Area Chamber of Commerce
Dan Dziadosz, Recycling Coordinator, Town of Rib Mountain
Bernie Gauerke, Marathon County Fair Director, Grounds/Maintenance
Pat Koeller, Marathon County Fair Secretary
Ken Krueger, Marathon County Park Superintendent
Peggy Peksa, Deluxe Disposal
Kelly Pagel, Wausau Area Events, Inc.
Lance Tesch, Lloyd Brothers Recycling
Cory Tomczyk, Industrial Recyclers of Wisconsin

Special thanks to:

Georgia Clean & Beautiful, Lynn Cobb, Manager (404) 679-4910
Minnesota State Fair (612) 642-2200
Royal/RDC, Sara Davidson, Research Director (905) 427-0009
Tenneco Packaging, Lea Anne Connelly, Issues Management (404) 350-1300
Edited by Lora Hainy, Julia Barrett, Shelley Heilman, and Joel Stone

For more assistance, contact waste management staff at these DNR offices:

Eau Claire (715) 839-3700
Green Bay (920) 492-5800
Madison (608) 275-3266
Milwaukee (414) 263-8500
Rhinelander (715) 365-8900
Spooner (715) 635-2101
Wausau (715) 359-452