Grassroots Composting: History and Numbers
The Compost Education Program has worked with the Finger Lakes Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance since 1995. In the early days, we composted food from the food vendors with straw right on site using welded wire cylinder bins on pallets. The bins were picked up by a local farmer.
In 2002, Grassroots designated part of an adjacent field to the offsite parking and camping area as their compost site. Grassroots compost volunteers took food scraps to this site and composted them with straw in welded wire cylinder bins. In October following the festival, Master Composters turned each bin into a large windrow to over-winter. Then in the spring before the festival, Master Composters added the finished compost to a garden space.
Our operation changed again in 2007 when we collected food scraps for Cayuga Compost, a for-profit large-scale compost facility located less than 2 miles from the festival. Focusing primarily on collection enabled us to focus more on education and collecting leftovers from festival goers.
Since then, our operations have continued to evolve. Grassroots has required all of their vendors to sell food on compostable plates, using compostable forks, spoons and cups. Waste from the festival has been reduced dramatically. For more information and an excellent 3-minute narrated slide show, see the Grassroots Compost-Recycling-Garbage site.
From 1995 to 2009, the Compost Education Program has helped Grassroots divert over 55 tons (110,000 lbs) of food waste from the landfill. The breakdown by year follows:
1995 - 3,500 lbs
1996 - 3,500 lbs (estimated)
1997 - 4,000 lbs (estimated)
1998 - 5,200 lbs (estimated)
1999 - 6,534 lbs
2000 - 6,800 lbs (estimated)
2001 - 7,200 lbs (estimated)
2002 - 7,552 lbs
2003 - 8,050 lbs
2004 - 8,160 lbs
2005 - 8,275 lbs
2006 - 6,630 lbs
2007 - 10,040 lbs (the year we started sending scraps to Cayuga Compost)
2008 - 10,289 lbs
2009 - 15,000 lbs
This work has only been possible through the dedication of the dozens of volunteers and volunteer coordinators year after year. Volunteers have fun at the festival while working to reduce waste and create compost used locally to grow local food.
View photos from past festivals.