Diverting Over 50% of the Festival Waste from the Landfill

On September 11, 2021 our chapter of Clean Up – Give Back (CUGB) participated in BarrieFest in Oak Park. We were invited by Takeout 25 and Southeast Oak Park Community Organizers to help them manage the waste at this year’s festival.

This year was extra special because the festival was serving as the official launch of Takeout 25 as a non-profit which meant 10 local restaurants and their respective food stalls were being featured. With festivals and food stalls comes waste.

For CUGB, this meant we would not only pickup litter, but work to divert waste from the landfill and educate others on the harmfulness of food waste.

Our community was great at sorting their waste - with everyone's help, we estimate 104 gallons of compost, 136 gallons of recyclables, and 204 gallons of trash. This means our community cut the waste going to the landfill by more than 50%! (Next time we'll bring our scale and get weights!)

Our board had never tackled a project this big – while a lot of work, it was a resounding success. We recruited over 30 volunteers that covered shifts from morning until dusk.

Audrey and Frankie personally tackled setting up our waste station before heading for a full day of band competition. Lily was a champ at making sure we had enough volunteers after the festival to ensure a quick breakdown.

Libby and Gia stole the show by working as crew leaders for 6 hours each. They managed the volunteer crews that scoured the park for litter in addition to managing two waste stations where volunteers sorted their compost, recyclables and trash.

And, the founder of Clean Up – Give Back, Donna Adam, brought the green van and helped our chapter all day, too!

It felt great to help CUGB branch out in their quest to be environmental stewards!

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Want to host your own cleanup campaign?

It doesn't matter if you're looking for a group service project or an individual contribution, we can help! Email us at cugb.oprf@gmail.com !

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