WHAT: Join us at Tulip Fest to help divert food scraps from the landfill. Volunteers help event-goers sort their waste into food scraps, recycling and landfill bins at "Zero Waste Stations'' so that food scraps or unwanted food goes in designated compost bins, and clean plastic goes to recycling, rather than towards our overburdened landfills. Training will be provided prior to each shift.
Volunteers may also opt towards managing our information table, where we ask event-goers compost and recycling related questions, give out zero waste information, sell reusable items, and field donations. Volunteers may also help us go directly to food vendors and collect back-of-house food scraps for composting.
WHO: Anyone interested in being part of the solution to excessive waste is welcome to join! We'll be helping people understand that food scraps don't belong in the trash, as well as assisting with recycling. Adults and kids are welcome, organizations and company staff welcome too!
HOW: Please sign up for a shift on the shared spreadsheets linked below or by emailing Xanthe Plymale at info@zerowastecd.org.
WHERE: Albany Tulip Fest: Sat. May 13 and Sun. May 14 in Washington Park. Festival hours are 11 am to 6 pm daily.
Shifts run from 10 am-12 noon, 12-2 pm, 2-4 pm, 4-7 pm on both Sat. and Sun. Please show up 15 minutes early for training.
We'll be supervising multiple Zero Waste Stations and collecting food scraps from vendors, as well as manning an information table, throughout the day.
Sign up for a shift here and indicate your availability: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WGO_CYGrHLiaygdpoxf9bsYO81Y0sqT7-Jw1oPPHfo8/edit?usp=sharing
WHY: Landfilled food scraps and organic matter create large amounts of methane when put into an airless landfill environment. In the fight against climate change, we hear plenty about carbon, but methane is actually 80x more potent! We seek to divert these food scraps away from the landfill and towards composting, which not only creates nutrient-rich soil, but stops soil erosion. In addition, the microbes within compost act as a carbon sink, meaning it takes excess carbon out of the air.
Last year, we diverted more than 2,000lbs (1 ton) of food scraps at Tulip Fest, and we couldn't have done it without every single one of our volunteers! This is equivalent energy savings to powering a household of 4 for nearly half a year.
