The Greening of the Festival

The Canmore Folk Festival and its patrons continue to celebrate in the success of its Zero Waste Initiative.

Since 2008, when the Canmore Folk Festival first started to “walk the talk” in terms of being better environmental stewards, the Festival has increased the amount of materials it recycles from 10 per cent in 2007 to 87 per cent in 2009! Our goal this year is 90 per cent.

More importantly, between 2008 and 2009, we managed to decrease the total overall amount of waste material generated by 12 per cent. Remember, one of the three R’s is “Reduce”.

We are extremely proud of this achievement, and so should you be! After all, none of this would be possible without your support of our initiatives, like “bring your own plate”, “refill your own water bottle”, and of course, our Resource Recovery Centres. What you may not realize is that we weigh and record every single bag of material collected during the Folk Festival! No one has ever said that our Green Team volunteers (all 55 of them) weren’t a dedicated group!

But the success of the Festival’s Zero Waste Initiative is truly a Team effort. There are several other “green” initiatives that the Festival undertakes that may not be as visible – or as “sexy” – to the public as the Resource Recovery Centres, but they do play a big part in our success.

Our backstage food services have embraced the zero waste initiative in a really big way. The crew that provides snacks for the volunteers has to feed more than 450 hungry and thirsty volunteers every day, and they have managed to do a remarkable job while going completely “green”. No, they don’t just hand out broccoli and celery – they have eliminated disposable cups, plates and cutlery. Volunteers are expected to bring their own. They have also changed the way they prepare and serve the food, to eliminate landfill waste.

Margaret Blokhuis and her Hospitality team have switched to serving up the hot meals to the 200 performers, coordinators and VIPs twice daily on compostable foodware. People are encouraged to bring their own plates as well.

Sara Titus, our Community and Artisan Booths Coordinator, works closely with the Artisans in not only selecting reusable and compostable packing materials, but in selecting products that are not mass produced and generated in environmentally sound practices.

Tia Dishan, our Family Area coordinator, only selects materials for the children’s crafts and activities that can be recycled or composted. Everything used is made from natural fibers or materials.

And there are several more coordinators who, by making small changes in their areas, are making positive contributions to our success story!

This initiative wouldn’t be possible without a number of corporate and municipal helpers. The Town of Canmore Waste Services picks up the compostable material from the festival and takes it to the town’s sewage waste plant, where it’s transferred to EPCOR trucks and hauled to the company’s composting facility in Bowden, AB. The paper, plastics, metal, returnable beverage containers and glass are similarly collected by Flying Pigs, a local recycling company, for haulage to the Town’s recycling depot. Anything left over that absolutely has to go to the landfill is collected by BFI Canada for transport to Calgary.

On the electricity front, ENMAX this year will once again be offsetting all power consumed over the weekend with green energy credits, which go back onto the grid, somewhat like the carbon offsets you can buy when you fly. Last year the Festival used 800 KwH of power, so it’s anticipated a similar amount will be needed this year.

For this year, we are borrowing our sustainability theme from the original environmentalists, the backcountry hikers: “Leave only footprints, take only photographs”. That is, if you bring it in, take it out. With your support, I’m confident we can continue to lead the way as the largest and greenest music festival in the Bow Valley!

– Norm Neil

Environment Coordinator