MISSOULA — The Western Montana Fair brings a lot of people and a lot of fun to Missoula. But, it also brings a lot of waste to Missoula’s landfill.
When something gets thrown out, it is really easy to not think about what happens next. Home ReSource’s Green Team was out in full force at the Fairgrounds this week to make sure it all ended up in the right place.
“Compostables go in the compost bin, recycling goes in the recycling bin and then everything else will go in trash,” said Keilin Huang, development and outreach assistant manager at Home ReSource.
Tens of thousands of pounds of waste ends up in the green, blue and black-lidded bins at the fair every year. The Green Team, a group of volunteers led by Home ReSource staff, helps to manage it in a more sustainable way.
“The fair has done a really good job of making sure all the vendors have compostable items. With that being said, stuff still gets through the cracks,” Huang said. “Their job is to go around to each of these bins and sort them.”
Volunteer Mason Parker has been part of the Green Team for years. For him, it is one way to take a big, global problem, like overflowing landfills, and make an impact on a local level.
“It’s a real, tangible way to make a difference and just have a cleaner community and a cleaner world,” he said. “As you're pulling things out, the trash goes down and down and down and down and the compost goes up and up and up and up. You just see it going out and you feel like, ‘Wow, I can see it! I can see the difference!’”
In addition to sorting things that were already thrown out, team members educate the public and make sure cans are labeled with informational sings.
“It can be a little bit tricky. You’ve got your compostable forks, your compostable spoons. These days, you've even got compostable plastic cups,” Parker said. “It's a factor of just making sure that those are going into the right place and also of just educating people.”
There are compost bins with information on how to compost all over the Fairgrounds. Each vendor even has their own set of bins, to maximize the opportunities to keep other waste out of the landfill.
This year, the Western Montana Fair is aiming for 90% diversion, or 90% of the stuff that gets thrown away to go into the compost or recycling, instead of the landfill. This goal fits in with larger plans from the City of Missoula.
“The city itself wants to be zero waste, 90% diversion rate, by the year 2050,” Huang said. “Events are a huge part of that because they generate like literal tons of waste.”
To help, the Green Team comes to all sorts of Missoula Events. In addition to the fair, you can see them and their green aprons at events like River City Roots, the Missoula Marathon, Pride and Zootown Festival.
“One of my favorite moments is when people come up and you can see them step back and they kind of look at the signs to try and figure it out,” Parker said. “You say, ‘Oh, this is somebody who's really trying to figure it out’ and you just let them know. ‘OK, so this is compostable.’”
While the fair ends Sunday, that is not where the story ends for everything that gets thrown out. The compost is off to Missoula Compost and the trash and recycling to Republic Services. Parker said the impact from the Green Team is not does either.
“Now, that person will go out and they know and they can tell their friends," he said. "Maybe they go to the fair next year together and they'll say, ‘Hey, that's the compost. This is the recycling.’”
