Post from the Past - Recycle at the Fair

Recycle at the Fair
Saturday May 5, 2012
I confess, I am going greener every day, the need to take care of this planet grows, and I would bring in my coffee cup or water bottle everywhere I go (thank you QT for allowing us to do this and spoiling me rotten), but since you aren’t allowed to refill your own cup at the fair, or football games (which BTW I totally understand – this isn’t a complaint) This is a “Plan B”.

Wait! I interrupt myself to add one thought before I go back to the original thought, yes if you purchase a cup of soda you can have it refilled, and I really appreciate this…. This is not about the cups themselves, but rather the bottle drinks.

One thing that I would impress upon to every single venue would be the need for recycle bins. I don’t know if they are expensive, or if people try and steal them?? But it is the Arizona Cardinals that shockingly enough brought this to my attention. Since we park nearly a half mile away we always carry our allotted two 10oz bottles of water, and since we can’t take a second one into the arena by the Cardinal rules, we drink one bottle as we wait for our pat down, and they let us recycle the bottles right outside before we enter. That’s a big deal for most of us walking since it is so hot and we need to hydrate as we walk. Then when you get inside there are a ton of recycle bins everywhere to recycle the bottle they let you in with, or the few you can buy on site.

I’ve noticed in the fairgrounds they sell cokes and I have yet to find a visible recycle bin, I know there are people that won’t use it correctly, but it would be more of us that are willing to, and I think we outweigh the ones that don’t. I was seriously shocked with California not having bins with their CRV fees. Someone would make those few cents back!! It isn’t a lot, but isn’t money money?

I think the most shocking are the vendors that tout the need to recycle like SRP or PSA’s and they say, drink water, exercise, eat healthy and THEY don’t have bins. We walked around with a free bottle of water from one group that asked us to recycle when we finished drinking and then we returned with our bottles, and they had no way to recycle it, even they saw the ridiculousness of it at that point. They offered me a suggestion without a solution; I especially think that if they come in with a message, they should follow through.

It has been brought to my attention that maybe with people not using the bins correctly will make a lot of work for the people that have to sort the trash, and I respect that argument, I have seen a few solutions, with bins having the hole the size of a bottle, or hole that is blocked and you have to push a bottle or can through. I guess I need to ponder that some yet. But for some reason it doesn’t seem like a big deal to me if the vendors or shows that have a “recycle to save the planet” suggestion have the only bins to start out with… that might be a temporary solution for now, but it would give us an option for now and maybe it could grow a can or two in front of the food vendors outside later on.

For now I carry a backpack and will carry out all my bottles if I buy them. I am just serious that while we are having a blast, we should also show some responsibility. Maybe my one bottle can help.

Edit July 16, 2021
San Diego County Fair has a huge recycling complex And a lot more fairs have jumped on this as well since I wrote this, I was really glad to see so many people take this seriously.
And on top of that, a lot more of the festivals have as well, art shows, and farmers markets. So this is just a post from the past as I was going through old files and I am eternally grateful for the changes I have seen in recent years.