When the bands and crowds clear out of the Nelsonville Music Festival each year, the party begins for those making sure that no trace of the weekend-long festival is left behind.
“We’re always commended on how clean the festival is,” said Tim Peacock, executive director of Stuart’s Opera House. “We have people walking around even picking up cigarette butts.”
Each year, the organizers of the Nelsonville Music Festival not only discuss which bands to book, but also how to work toward their goal of the event producing zero waste.
“We’re trying to set an example statewide and perhaps nationwide on how you can run a large (event) and not create a lot of waste,” Peacock said.
Kyle O’Keefe, the coordinator for Rural Action’s Zero-Waste Initiative, started working on the project in 2011, though the efforts toward green policies for the festival existed before that.
This year, the festival is also working with Ohio University engineering students, who are developing new technology for sorting recycling. O’Keefe presented the problem to the senior engineering design capstone class, which then had a group design for a new sorter that not only can be used at the Nelsonville Music Festival, but other events for Rural Action.
“The idea of the class is ‘design that makes a difference,’ ” said Colton Rooney, a leader of the group and a senior studying mechanical engineering. “(The group) wanted to stick with the idea and focus on helping the environment.”
Previously, bags of recycling had to be laid out by hand and sorted, but now the engineers have developed a conveyor belt with individual attachments that can be linked to help sort out contaminants and compostable material, along with types of recyclable materials. The machine will be lightweight and collapsible to allow for portability.
For 2013, Stuart’s Opera House aims to divert 90 to 95 percent of materials generated at the festival, improving on the 72 percent that was accomplished in 2012, said O’Keefe.
“It’s really cool when you employ creativity,” O’Keefe added. “It’s kind of become (ingrained in) the fabric of the festival.”
Another new addition to the festival is a donation station for ReUse, where attendees can donate their gently used clothing, books and other household items. Other existing green efforts at the festival range from water bottle fill stations to encouraging festival goers to use alternative transportation, such as bikes, to get to the site.
O’Keefe said more than 150 volunteers work to reduce the environmental impact of the festival.
“(The zero waste effort) tells people without using words what the festival’s philosophy is,” Peacock said. “It means a lot to people who have similar ideals.”
eb104010@ohiou.edu
