Riverbend tries hand at recycling

Only one day of Riverbend festivities remains, but in terms of trash, it could be the biggest.

Beer, water and soda bottles create tons of refuse every year at Riverbend and, for the last few years, that waste went straight to the Hamilton County landfill.

Although recycling was tried in the past, it was just too expensive, said Chip Baker, executive director of Friends of the Festival, the group that puts on Riverbend each year. Festival-goers would dump food into plastic bins and cans into the trash bins, requiring manpower-intensive sorting before recycling could take place, Mr. Baker said.

"You have to station someone at every recycling bin," he said. "Before, it wasn't staffed with any volunteers, so if somebody wanted to do it (recycle), it was a more passive effort."

This year, about 350 volunteers have been stationed at the bins to direct festival-goers where to put their waste. Leadership Chattanooga formed the group Green Affair with the goal of trying to organize recycling efforts at other outdoor events -- large and small.

"The thinking was that, if it worked at Riverbend, it could work anywhere," Mr. Baker said.

Each day, festival recyclables from the day before are sent to the Orange Grove Center for recycling. It wasn't clear how much could be recycled at Riverbend this year, Mr. Baker said, since festival attendees still could be dumping their recyclables in trash receptacles.

Green Affair personnel said they hoped the program significantly would reduce landfill hauls.

"Providing recycling capabilities at events is a great way to reduce the amount of recyclable material going to the landfill, collect containers that would otherwise end up in our landfill and demonstrate a commitment to a clean and waste-wise event," said Kelly Fitzgerald, spokeswoman for Green Affair. "Our research has found that in many cases, trash disposal can be reduced by half."