Volunteers’ recycling drive at BunkFest gets massive public response
08 Sep 2006
Music fans who attended this year’s BunkFest folk festival in
Wallingford were in tune with a brand new recycling enterprise that was
inaugurated at this year’s event.
An enthusiastic response to the initiative from festival-goers meant that 77% of
the waste collected was recycled.
Three recycling stations were placed around the festival site as well as
containers for plastic beer glasses at the beer tent and the Cross Keys pub.
Three bottle banks were provided for glass.
Sustainable Wallingford volunteers led by Brian Landowski and supported by the
Community Action Group project and Oxfordshire County Council set up the
recycling stations and emptied the bins at regular intervals.
Helping to draw attention to their efforts was the tall, costumed figure of
Recycling Ricky. Litter picks were also undertaken by the Wallingford scout
group.
Community Action Group coordinator Hannah Moser said: “I was surprised how well
people had done at separating their rubbish. Even at 9.30 on Saturday night
there were still cans in the can bin, plastic cups in the plastic bin and paper
in the paper bin. I am really proud of the people involved in this scheme and
delighted by the level of commitment from the general public and their interest
in the recycling scheme. It was so great to see people thinking about what they
would do with their rubbish and to me this event has shown just how well people
respond to recycling when they are given the right facilities, opportunity and
good information!”
Brian Landowski, Bunkfest recycling scheme coordinator said: “I really think the
message got across. The advertising campaign and the whole way we approached it
worked. I think a lot of people took it on board; I had some amazing reactions
from people. Kids were collecting cans to crush and really wanting to take part.
I think it’s just amazing. I’m flabbergasted by the amount of waste collected
for recycling and the number of people who used the bins. It just goes to show
people can recycle well if they’re given the right facilities."
Following the success of this scheme, Oxfordshire County Council and the
Community Action Group project are looking to find other festivals and
volunteers who want to replicate this idea.
For more information about the Community Action Group project please contact
Hannah Moser on 01865 815871 or 077930647190 or visit
their web-site .
