![[logo] US EPA](http://www.epa.gov/epafiles/images/logo_epaseal.gif){kind=logo}
Recycling a Hit at 2006 Cherry Blossom Festival
An estimated one million visitors celebrated last month's Cherry Blossom Festival on the National Mall in Washington, DC. With the ever-growing interest in this annual rite of spring, some eyesores have cropped up among the blossoms—trash, and lots of it. This year, the National Park Service (NPS) reached out to us for help in managing the Festival's waste, particularly in implementing a recycling program. With our guidance, NPs set up three beverage container recycling centers around the Tidal Basin area of the National Mall and the results were astounding.
More than 20,000 glass, aluminum and plastic beverage containers were collected for recycling during the Festival's three weekends. Both Festival and EPA volunteers managed the recycling stations to curb potential contamination. Using our WAste Reduction Model (WARM), we calculated that our joint recycling efforts saved approximately 38 million BTUs, which is equivalent to the amount of energy found in 304 gallons of gas. In addition to beverage can recycling, Festival vendors collected and recycled approximately 500 pounds of corrugated cardboard.
"The National Park Service and the National Capital Region appreciate the effort, time, and direction EPA's staff and volunteers provided for this year's National Cherry Blossom Festival," said Joe Lawler, National Park Service, National Capital Region Director. "The visible presence of the recycling volunteers sends the message that both agencies are serious about, and committed to, recycling."
We are working with NPs to hopefully make recycling at National Mall activities permanent.
The National Cherry Blossom Festival's recycling activities are a part of our Recycle on the Go initiative, which promotes recycling away from home. Promoting a recycle-on-the-go ethic is one more way to reach our goal of a 35 percent national recycling rate.
For More Information:
- Recycle on the Go
- EPA's Resource Conservation Challenge National Priority area of Municipal Solid Waste and Recycling
- National Cherry Blossom Web Page
- WasteWise States Campaign