Atwood Fall Festival to Incorporate Waste Assessment

Attendees at the Atwood Fall Festival will notice a new addition at the park grounds this weekend. Through a partnership between the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD) and Rural Action, the festival will receive a waste assessment during the event. The assessment will outline how much waste is generated at the festival, along with how much could potentially be diverted through reduction, recycling, and composting options.

“Conducting a waste assessment is an important step towards our organization’s goals of sustainability and conservation” shared Matt Thomas, Chief of Conservation with MWCD. “Good decisions are based on good data, and we need to better understand where our parks and events are, in terms of generating waste.”

The waste sorting belt at a past zero waste event

Rural Action will be providing assessment services through their social enterprise, Zero Waste Event Productions. Selections of waste will be sampled from throughout the event grounds and at different times in order to get a complete picture of what attendees are disposing of. At the completion of the event, the information will be compiled into a report detailing the estimated weights of compostable and recyclable material, as well as “true trash,” and recommendations for how to fully adopt “zero waste” practices at future Atwood Fall Festivals.

Attendees will be able to watch the sorting process during the event, with a sorting belt located near the central recycling station. Staff will be on-site and ready to explain both zero waste principles, and about general waste management and recycling considerations.

Zero Waste Event Productions has been successful in diverting up to 90% of waste in similarly sized events. Through the partnership with MWCD, Rural Action is also conducting an assessment of waste at the park grounds during the normal summer season.

The Atwood Fall Festival will be held September 30th-October 2nd at Atwood Lake Park. Festival information can be found at www.atwoodfallfest.org. 

Rural Action is a regional community development organization with a 32-county footprint working with members and community leaders on a range of quality of life, environmental, and economic projects across rural Appalachian Ohio. Its mission is to build a more just economy by developing the region’s assets in environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable ways. Learn more about Rural Action at www.ruralaction.org