Dunedin's First Zero Waste Event!
Published on January 13, 2022
In partnership with Blue-Green Connections and Suncoast Compost by Renuable, Dunedin accomplished its first ever zero waste event!
What does Zero Waste mean?
According to the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA), zero waste is defined as, “efforts to reduce Solid Waste generation to nothing, or as close to nothing as possible, by minimizing excess consumption and maximizing the recovery of Solid Waste through recycling and composting.” In alignment with national standards, to be considered a “zero waste” festival, 90% or more of the waste from the event would have to be diverted from the landfill.
Hope Spot Festival
Dunedin is the “Home City” of the Florida Gulf Coast Hope Spot. This means the community understands how vital local waters and ecosystems are to our way of life. The Gulf Coast acts as a nursery and spawning ground for many species, which later inhabit deeper waters. Keystone species and the presence of endemic habitats are additional reasons these waters were selected to be a Hope Spot. Each year Blue-Green Connections partners with the City of Dunedin to host the Hope Spot Festival at Edgewater Park. The event promotes the importance of the Hope Spot and sheds an environmental light on how community members can be more involved. Environmentally-friendly booths and vendors line the park, speakers share expert advice, local musicians fill the air, and youth entrepreneurs showcase their products and programs – it’s an event that captures the essence of Dunedin.
Data
Blue-Green Connections had a mission for this year’s festival to achieve zero waste. It was a tall undertaking, but the planning committee was up for the task. With months of preparation, fine tuning minute details, and taking a preventative approach was the reason so much waste was diverted before the festival even took place. The Hope Spot Festival reached a 97% diversion rate for waste generated at the festival! This is an astonishing achievement and could not have been made a reality without the dedication of the partners, vendors, volunteers, and attendees. Only 1.34 pounds of waste was sent to the Waste-to-Energy plant to be landfilled. The rest of the materials were diverted; 40.3 pounds were composted and 4.45 pounds were recycled.
Set up for Success
Five zero waste stations were placed around the park for the festival. To ensure event attendees were disposing of materials correctly, team members from Suncoast Compost by Renuable and students from University of Tampa both manned the stations. Having staff and volunteers at each station also provided educational opportunities.
In addition to these impactful numbers, even more diversion occurred than what was captured in this data. Blue-Green Connections hosted a coastline cleanup and volunteers who participated collected over 93 pounds of ocean trash. Blue-Green Connections also requested vendors to do their best to avoid handouts, promotional knickknacks, and food vendors were required to use compostable materials.
The City of Dunedin partnered with Tampa Bay Watch and Tampa Bay Estuary Program to host a vertical oyster garden activity. This is a program where shucked oyster shells are collected from restaurants, sterilized, and strung into vertical gardens to be installed under docks. Oyster larvae attach to the shells, grow, and act as one of the important filters of our waters. Did you know a single oyster can filter between 20-50 gallons of water a day? Impressive for their size! During the festival, 2000 oyster shells were upcycled and strung to create vertical gardens for the Hope Spot. In addition to this, the City provided a water monster tank where attendees could refill their reusable bottles, which reduced plastic waste at the festival. Finally, at the City of Dunedin’s booth, staff promoted sustainable practices and promoted the backyard composting program, called Dunedin Does Compost.
Thank you to Blue-Green Connections for spearheading this endeavor! The Hope Spot Festival is a model that shows “zero waste” is possible when you have strong community collaboration. Cheers to Dunedin’s first Zero Waste festival – may there be many more in the future!