[Sca-cooks] A Zero Waste Pennsic OR Pennsic without a Trash Can

[Sharon Gordon]

Surprised by the sight of trashbags piled twice as high as you are? Ever
wonder what the history books will say about you and your 15 visits to
Pennsic based on archeological evidence from excavations of the 500 year old
trash found in the Butler County landfill in 2507? Concerned about the
amount of stuff we add to landfills?

If so, have some discussions this year with your camping groups about how
the upcoming Pennsic could be A Zero Waste Pennsic, and how your group can
change things to
avoid adding items to the landfill. Please feel free to forward the entire
post to other regional and local groups for discussion.

The good news is that the closer to medieval your encampment, the less
likely you are to add items to the landfill.

Some strategies for trash prevention:


***Pennsic-wide basis***
1) Provide sorting containers for every category of waste that can be
recycled in the county. Have this removed on a regular basis.
2) Find a farmer or landscaper who can take plant compost. Provide covered
containers for that. Have this removed frequently. Note that this compost
will not be organically certified due to mixture of inputs. Compost ashes
as well if natural soap strategy doesn't work out.
3) Find a wormery which is set up to process animal based or mixed compost
and who can also process and grind bones for fertilizer.
Provide covered containers for that. Have this removed frequently.
4) If the county does not have recycling for plastics numbered 3 and above,
wash and sort these and send them home with people who are driving who live
in states that do recycle these items.
5) If the county does not handle all metal recycling, send items home with
people who work at businesses with that sort of metal recycling bin.
6) Have a recycle tent where people can put items that might be useable to
others such as broken ceramics for mosaic makers, clothing your children
have outgrown, dyed or undyed scraps of leather, partial cans of paint, or
leftover pieces of wood used for building.
7) Send extra food back with people who are driving, or give unopened food
to local food banks.
8) Collect fabric scraps and threads in a clean dry area. May want to sort
into synthetic and natural fabrics. Let people take any scraps they can
use. Donate extras to people who make doll clothes, stuffed animals,
quilts, or quilts for foster children and homeless people.
9) Have a medical waste bin in a secured area. People can dispose of
needles, medical test items, condoms, bandages, sterile gloves, etc there
for transport to incineration site. Possibly disposable feminine hygiene
products and diapers could go this route as well.
10) Ask county merchants to use recyclable containers. for instance, get
eggs from suppliers who use paper cartons, and ask butchers to package
everything in butcher paper rather than styrofoam and plastic.
11) Collect nonreuseable batteries and have local person take to next
Special Waste day in area. Possibly empty paint tubes from illumination
projects would go there too.
12) Make arrangements with a local freecycle group to have a Free4All (sort
of like a giant free yard sale) of no longer wanted Pennsic items on
Saturday and Sunday. Have a truck that people can load items on to which is
taken to the Free4All location at regular intervals and unloaded by
Freecycle volunteers. May want to have a Pennsic Free4All on Saturday
morning from say 7-10 am to give other encampments a chance to take
something they can use and put into their storage. The remaining items can
then go to the county Free4All. A local Freecycle team can then post any
remaining items on the local freecycle site.


***Market area***
1) Serve food with washable plates, utensils, and napkins.
2) Ask customers to use market baskets or cloth bags to carry off their
purchases. Pottery can be carried off in boxes with items wrapped in
newspaper as that's also how it is likely to be transported home or to
storage. Sell cloth bags and market baskets for those who need them. Only
use plastic where vital such as for an overwrap on historic manuscripts.


***Encampment basis***
1) Design encampment structures so that they can be unbolted, stored, and
reused each year. If not donate to the Free4All rather than burning
valuable lumber in oversized bonfires.
2) Save cooled ashes from hardwood fires and give to people who make natural
soaps and are driving home.
3) Filter drinking water rather than buying bottled water.
4) Bring food items in reusable or recyclable containers. Plan food use so
that open or spoilable food is used up by Saturday night. Consider having
bread, cheese, and whole fruit for Sunday breakfast and taking home unopened
food. Send extra produce home with people from nearby.
5) Air dry dishes.
6) Have a large supply of fresh to use rags and towels rather than use paper
towels.
7) Use weighted linen covers on buffet style foods after the last person
goes through the line to keep food clean for people wanting second helpings
rather than saran wrap or aluminum foil. Have enough for at least half a
weeks worth of meals and wash them in batches. Or use reusable modern
screen picnic food covers.
8) Bring pots of fresh herbs to use in cooking.
9) Have recycle staging area with reusable medieval looking containers.
Take items to recycle/compost area regularly through the day. May want to
have two compost wagons, so second setup can be used while first wagon is
enroute to and from Pennsic-wide collection points.


***Personal basis***
1) Generally use healthy safe sustainable medievel strategies whenever
possible.
2) Bring items in reusable containers (chests, tins, cloth bags, pottery
crocks, glass containers).
3) Use a moonkeeper rather than disposable feminine hygiene products.
4) Use cloth rather than disposable diapers Set up a plan for each day so
that a different parent takes all diapers to be washed each day. Embroider
a number on diapers so each family gets their own back. Be sure children
are used to cloth diapers well before Pennsic.
5) Use cloth napkins and ceramic dishes.
7) Use natural fibers for clothing, linens, toys, handkerchiefs.
8) Use natural soap in unwrapped or paper wrapped bars.
9) Use Pennsic without a cooler solutions.
10) Use rechargable batteries.
12) Use reuseable dishwashing gloves if needed. Or use bare hands and treat
with herbal salve from a jar or crock.
13) Take clothbags to supermarkets. Try to buy loose whole foods or foods
in cardboard boxes rather than plastic.
14) Keeping asking yourself, "How can we avoid creating trash?" "How would
medieval people have done this?"


***Things with iffy or yet to be found solutions***


1) Plastic wrappers from icebags. Pennsic without a cooler solutions would
help some there. Another solution might be to have a refrigerated cart with
ice blocks that can be delivered straight to coolers without involving a bag
or use scoops for crushed ice. Care would need to be taken for sanitation
here.
2) Blister plastic from individually wrapped medications.
3) Tubes for ointments. Can these go in metal or plastic recyle? May be
able to use salves in jars or crocks for some things. Toothpaste tubes.
Recycle(?) or use herbal versions.
4) Broken music cassettes.
5) Broken electronics. Place in Pennsic Recycle tent with note about status
or send to Free4All. Often people can be found who can fix them or use them
for parts.
6) Broken items made of treated lumber. In future avoid treated lumber and
use naturally decay resistant lumber. People may be able to use treated
scraps through Free4All, but be sure it's labeled as treated wood.
7) Worn out elastic from modern clothing.
8) Plastic bags from food that can only be found in plastic bags in the
Pennsic area. Try and find food in bulk bins at home and package in cloth
bags/tins/crocks/jars for Pennsic. If flying ask for assistance from people
driving to avoid adding to security issues of carrying unpackaged food.
9) Chewing gum. I don't know if this can be composted through vegetable or
animal product systems.
10) Burned out lightbulbs.


What else is likely to be left in the trash?


Sharon
gordonse at one.net