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Recycle on the Go at the Delaware State Fair
Every summer nearly 300,000 people flock to the Delaware State Fair in Harrington, Delaware, to enjoy the sights and sounds that only a fair can offer. During the 2006 Fair, fairgoers noticed a few more flashy colors around the fairgrounds: green and neon yellow—the colors of the recycling bins strategically placed in high-traffic areas by the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC).
DNREC, in partnership with the Delaware State Fair, Delaware Solid Waste Authority, and AmeriCorps, collected nearly 7,500 pounds of plastic bottles, aluminum cans, and corrugated cardboard during the Fair, which ran from July 20 to 29, 2006. This was the first time in the event’s 87-year history that fairgoers and vendors were given the opportunity to recycle these items.
One major reason for the initiative’s success was the eye-catching appearance of the recycling containers. “We wanted to make it easy for people to identify the containers, and we wanted them to be set apart from any other waste container,” said Bill Miller, an environmental scientist at DNREC. Each of the 44 68-gallon recycling bins placed throughout the fairgrounds featured a green body and bright yellow lid adorned by bottle and can images and labels like, “Warning: No Garbage” and “Empty Plastic and Aluminum Only.” Added features included a can collar, or rubberized opening, and lockable clasp on the lid, designed to discourage people from discarding anything but a bottle or can into the container.
To collect the recyclables, DNREC worked with AmeriCorps volunteers, who emptied the recycling bins each night and sorted the recyclables by hand. The volunteers collected approximately 252 pounds of plastic, 135 pounds of aluminum, and 6,571 pounds of corrugated cardboard. DNREC also boasted a “very respectable” contamination rate of 7.76 percent, meaning that very little trash was thrown into the recycling bins. All of the recyclables collected at the Fair were processed by the Delaware Solid Waste Authority.
Planning for the event began in December 2005, when DNREC initiated talks with the fairgrounds facilities staff. Though the recycling program was just a “small scale trial,” DNREC is pleased with the results and looks forward to building on its success. Miller hopes to run a similar program at the 2007 Delaware State Fair, with more recycling containers and wider education and outreach. “There are definitely more bottles and cans out there…and we know we can collect them,” he said.
DNREC’s waste reduction efforts exemplify the type of initiative encouraged by the Resource Conservation Challenge within its focus on Municipal Solid Waste Recycling.
For More Information:
- Resource Conservation Challenge national priority area - Municipal Solid Waste Recycling
- EPA's Recycle on the Go Web site - Web site providing more information, including similar success stories and suggestions for how you can make your special event a Recycle on the Go event
- WAste Reduction Model (WARM) - a model to help solid waste planners and organizations track and voluntarily report greenhouse gas emissions reductions and energy savings from several different waste management practices.