August 21, 2014
Since 2008 Marianne Peters has been the Recycling Coordinator for “Blue Goes Green” at the Marshall County Blueberry Festival. She and her volunteers have been able to reduce the amount of trash taken to the landfill by many tons simply by recycling plastic drink bottles, cans and vendor cardboard.
Peters said the largest year of recycling so far was in 2012 when nearly 8 tons of recycling was diverted from the landfill.
To handle all the recycling at the Blueberry Festival, volunteers are needed to walk the festival grounds, checking the recycling bins for contamination such as liquids and food. Peters said, “It’s frustrating to see an ear of sweet corn or half-devoured turkey leg in a recycling bin.” She points out that each bin has small round holes on the top for plastic bottles and cans.
Volunteers are asked to donate at least two hours. They walk in pairs and change out the recycling bags and encourage visitors to recycle their drink containers, sometimes even putting an “I Recycle” sticker on a visitor. Participants are provided with aprons, gloves and hand sanitizer.
Those interested in volunteering just a few hours or for the entire weekend should plan to meet at the souvenir booth by Jefferson School on Wednesday, August 27th at 7 p.m.
When heading to the 48th Annual Marshall County Blueberry Festival next weekend, please remember to recycle. Recycling containers have clear plastic bags with blue tops; there are also big blue barrels and some black Coca Cola recycling bins.