Red, Right, Recycle
Annapolis looks less like a circus now that the U.S. Boat Shows — and their tons of waste — are packed up.
This year was the first time that recycling routed waste. At 25 ecostations across City Dock, visitors found greener choices for recycling. At each station, a green 50-gallon bin collected paper, plastic, metal and glass while a red bin collected trash for the landfill.
Boat fanciers got those choices courtesy of Elvia Thompson and Lynne Forsman, founders of Green Annapolis, and WasteStrategies.
WasteStrategies, which helps public events manage their mess, estimates there’s opportunity to divert to recycling as much as 70 percent of material now going into landfills. Even the bins at the boat shows were recycled: WasteStrategies re-used bins bought for last year’s Maryland Seafood Festival.
But the 1,250 gallons of recyclables collected wasn’t enough, according to Forsman, who hopes to expand next year’s effort. Vendors gladly cooperated, she said, adding that most were surprised that the boat shows were just getting around to recycling.
“Boat Show is the prize winner for us,” Forsman said. “There’s no better way to show our efforts than to help the largest event in Annapolis to go green.”