One of the goals of the Transportation Summit was to successfully implement a green community event. Planners asked Helen Venada, Waste Reduction Coordinator for the County, to advise them on waste stream issues and following the event she offered the following “Green Report Card”:

According to Venada, the final estimated waste generation results are very impressive for a crowd of 200 people:

• 30 gallons of compostables, including food scraps and food-soiled paper products, that will be reused locally to build soil;

• 15 gallons of recyclables, including paper cups that were not food-soiled; these will be trucked to Cascade Materials Recovery Facility in Woodinville;

• 3 gallons of garbage to be long-hauled for landfill in eastern Oregon, consisting of cellophane and metallic candy wrappers; plastic straws; plastic cups and dome tops; wooden stir sticks; wooden toothpicks with plastic streamers; alkaline batteries; assorted plastic film packaging; duct tape; meat/cheese scraps; wine corks and metallic wrappings. All these items were in small quantities and some were brought in from outside the event.

She further credited pre-planning which involved re-thinking purchase choices:

• The caterer provided lunch and snacks that reflected a commitment to the concept of waste reduction; her use of washable plates and utensils attests to that.

• No Styrofoam food containers were used at the event. The unwaxed paper cups and bowls are readily compostable.

• Paper name tags were recycled and plastic holders were collected for re-use.

• The choice of 100 percent recycled paper from a Washington mill and purchased locally helps to improve recycling markets and greatly reduces energy use and pollution generated in manufacture of paper from virgin materials.

• Re-use of map plotter paper and blueprints from county offices as well as your use of two-sided printing cut paper waste in half!

San Juan County Public Works Department not only provided the printed-on-one-side plotter paper for the World Cafes, but also the use of the recycling containers for the event. Other organizations interested in promoting waste reduction in future event planning are urged to download the Green Event Planning Guide from the County Public Works website.