ENVIRO EXPO USA ’09 ZERO-WASTE EVENT

On November 14-15, 2009 in Atlanta, Georgia, ENVIRO EXPO USA teamed up with the Sustainable Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Georgia Recycling Coalition and Greenco in making the annual event a zero-waste event. This year, the event was held at the Georgia World Congress Center as it afforded EEU, not only greater space and visibility but, a staff and facility to meet the Expo’s goal of creating a Zero Waste Zone (ZWZ). Enviro Expo USA is the first expo in Atlanta to attempt this feat.

The mission of Enviro Expo USA has been to Educate & Motivate the public to live a sustainable life style states, organizers, Dianne and Joe Bennett. To that end, the expos’ past accomplishments has included DNR/Sustainable Division and several vendors educating and handing out information on recycling and composting. This year Zero waste was clearly emphasized: appropriate signs were placed over the bins (recyclable, compostable and trash) along with volunteers from the Sierra Club to monitor what was being placed in the bins. Vendors were educated (in advance and OFTEN) on keeping there packaging and other items normally thrown into the trash to a minimum. Recycle bags were provided to each exhibitor to recycle in their booth. NO Styrofoam was allowed in the event. The Chef’s Corner events and other food sampling were highly encouraged to use compostable materials for sampling. Periodic announcements were made about the ZWZ efforts and educational sessions were presented at the venue.

With the help of 5,000+ attendees, 177 exhibitors and 50 volunteers, Enviro Expo USA was successful in producing a measurable event. Volunteers were our first line of defense to insure discarded materials were deposited in the correct bins. This material was later manually sorted, weighed and recorded at a single location before being emptied in the appropriated dumpsters. This effort provided a visible example to the public of the zero waste effort, but at the same time was relatively dirty work.

Roy Edwards, Pollution Prevention Specialist headed up
the DNR Case Study and reported the overall weight of discarded material generated was 2,308 lbs.

• 57% Compostable
• 21.5% recyclable (paper, plastic, aluminum)
• 10.5% cardboard
• 11% trash

A TOTAL of 89% of the Expo was successfully diverted from the landfill !

Manual sorting ensured the highest possible diversion rate.  Overall the preplanning for the event was paramount; putting requirements up front for the vendors, greatly reduced the overall amount of discarded material generated.  Having a venue that supports ZW and Greenco, the food composter on site, along with the SD and GRC helped ensure a successful ZW event…  MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

ECO TEAM:

• Roy Edwards. Department of Natural Resources, Sustainable Division
• Gloria Hardegree, Executive Director, Georgia Recycling Coalition
• Dianne Bennett, President, Enviro Expo USA
• Melia Lesko, Co-Founder & VP. Greenco
• Michelle Pittman, Asst. Director of Building Services, GA World Congress Center
• Mary Harrington, Recycling Product Manager, City of Atlanta
• Freeman Company, Ben Lutz, Sales Manager
• Peggy Whitlow Ratcliffe, Living Green Pages
• Marina A. Bryant, President, World Events

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

Roy Edwards, Pollution Prevention Specialist
Department of Natural Resources
Sustainable Division
(404) 657-7449
roy.Edwards@p2ad.org