April 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 18

WE ARE PARKS AND RECREATION
Composting for Waste-Free
Programs and Events
By Tim Pritchard
T
he mission of Five Rivers MetroParks (MetroParks) in Dayton,
Ohio, is to protect the region's natural heritage and provide outdoor
experiences that inspire a personal connection to nature. In 2015,
MetroParks adopted a Waste Management Policy that specifies
agency-produced programs, meetings and events be conducted waste free.
All staffed
facilities
became
equipped with recycling and compost
bins, and staff are coached
to use these amenities. Mid-sized
compost bay systems are used to
manage horticultural waste and
brush at Possum Creek Farm and
Wegerzyn
Gardens
MetroPark,
where they serve as a publicly visible
example of how to use compost
for gardening and landscaping.
Composting for small programs
is straightforward, with foresight to
make sure the correct wares are purchased
and disposal guidelines are
communicated with guests. These
efforts become more challenging
for large events with multiple food
vendors and open attendance, yet
MetroParks has been successful in
diverting more than 80 percent of the
waste stream from the largest staffproduced
event, the Wagner Subaru
Outdoor Experience.
The Wagner Subaru
Outdoor Experience Goes
Waste Free
The Wagner Subaru Outdoor Experience
is held annually in Dayton
during the first weekend in October
to celebrate the " Outdoor Adventure
Capital of the Midwest. " This
weekend-long festival is organized
by the MetroPark's Outdoor Recreation
team with assistance from
18 Parks & Recreation | APRIL 2 0 2 3
each functional area of the agency
and welcomes more than 12,000
visitors from across the country. Visitors
enjoy opportunities to experience
a variety of outdoor recreation
activities, competitions, clinics, local
recreation organizations and more.
The festival includes 12 to 15 food
vendors, a beer garden, live music
and outdoor recreation exhibitors
from across the world, so waste is
an inevitable byproduct. Since instigating
the waste-free initiative, the
agency has worked to ensure beer
sales are conducted with reusable
vessels, free water bottle refilling is
provided, and food service vendors
use 100 percent compostable service
ware, which staff and volunteers
collect and process.
Multi-bin waste collection stations
supported by trained volunteers are
crucial to this initiative to ensure
materials are properly collected and
sorted. Four public waste collection
stations are within the footprint of
the event, each surrounded by tables
with bus tubs to facilitate convenience
for event visitors and avoid crosscontamination.
All food waste and
service ware are collected as compost,
with commingled recycling and
incidental trash collected separately.
Each stream is kept color coded to
ensure it arrives at the right location.
Park staff weigh the materials
| PARK S ANDRECRE AT ION . OR G
prior to being transported. Recycling
and trash are retrieved for
disposal by a contracted hauler,
and the compost is then processed
in-house thanks to an industrial
grinder provided by Montgomery
County Environmental
Services
and a partnership with The Dayton
Foodbank, which operates an Ohio
Environmental Protection Agencylicensed
Class II facility.
Partnerships Enhance the
Program
A local service ware supply vendor
and compostable ware manufacturer
work with food vendors ahead of
time and during the festival to make
sure compostable wares are correct
and able to be restocked. In 2022,
Waste-Free Dayton, a nonprofit organization,
assisted with collection sites.
Communication with vendors is
a key part of a successful waste-free
program, and recruitment is most
successful when it is framed as a partnership
rather than just an opportunity
to vend. The effort requires extra
work and increases overhead for
participating vendors but gives them
the ability to learn a new way of doing
business that will be increasingly
important as other organizers adopt
waste free. It also is a marketable attribute
for doing business and is of
value to small business owners and
their customers.
Being waste free requires extra
attention to detail, time and/or financial
investment,
and
carefully
crafted
communication. However,
these efforts demonstrate a necessary
change that generates goodwill in the
community and provides a replicable
model to carry forward in the spirit of
conservation and sustainability.
Tim Pritchard is Sustainability Manager
at Five Rivers MetroParks (tim.pritchard@
metroparks.org).
April 2023 - Parks & Recreation

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