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Subject: On Packing it Out--Another Reality Check
From: Carla Newbre <ca...@efn.org>
Date: June 12, 2004
Newsgroups: alt.gathering.rainbow
Of recent years, the phrase "Pack it in, pack it out" is increasingly seen on gathering RAP 107s and Howdy Folks. At first glance this seems like a very good idea. HOWEVER:
If you are packing out your trash, make sure to take it far, far away from the local towns. Although it may seem reasonable to deposit a bag of trash or two in the trash cans of the local park, supermarket or gas station, think for a moment what happens if this is multiplied by many people. For example, if only five hundred people dealt with their trash in this way, it would result in a substantial expense for whoever is paying for that trash pickup.
While it may be tempting to say that we bring them a lot of money and they should be happy to absorb this expense, the fact is that the local town or county governments usually pick up the tab for the extra trash collection, and most of these rural governments can ill afford this kind of expense. What might go to helping those in need in their own communities instead goes to dealing with Rainbow trash.
Also, please remember to recycle everything you can while you are at the gathering. It does make a difference.
For example, in Vermont in 1991 folks went through every single recycling station and every bag of trash at the gathering and every possible item that could be recycled, was recycled. Redmoonsong issued a recycling/waste management report on the recycling efforts that year. Here are some of the figures. Remember this was 13 years ago, and there are undoubtedly more people, more prosperity, more luxury items, and more trash generated nowadays.
1991 figures:
The total cost for recyclying and landfill was $1610.64.
Total person hours for this effort was 3000.
A few things jump out at me:
First, a community the size of the gathering generates a huge amount of trash and recycling over a period of just a few weeks.
Second, it takes a huge amount of people hours to deal with it, no matter how it is done.
Third, it’s expensive to deal with it.
Fourth, the costs are covered by the Magic Hat as part of the expense of clean up.
Fifth, donations of clothes from local churches and other groups, unless in response to something like the snowstorm of last year, usually ends up in the landfill.
Sixth, the more people who help with recycling, trash hauling, and cleanup, the easier and faster it goes.
Seventh, it is totally rude to let someone else to all that work. Everyone, even the smallest child, can help with cleanup by paying attention throughout the whole gathering to the need for recycling and waste management consciousness.
Obviously, there are lots of issues and problems with trash and recycling. It might be a good idea to discuss this in either Main Council or Cooperations Council. There may be a better way to approach how we’ve been doing it the past few years. Communication and discussion is always a good thing.
Carla’s Tips for Cleanup Consciousness:
Reduce, reuse, recycle.
Take an hour or so before you leave the gathering to clean up and naturalize the area around where you were camped. Pick up little bits of trash, cut strings off trees, disappear someone else’s fire pit if they left without doing it. If you were part of a camp that had a kitchen, ask what you can do to help clean it up and disappear it. Every little bit helps.
At the very very least, clean up and naturalize your own camping space. The cleanup crew remains behind to disappear trails, close latrines, and return the land to its original state. They should not have to clean up anyone’s personal campsite or haul out personal trash, yet they often must do so. Not fair.
Finally, when you leave the gathering take a bag of trash or recycling up to Welcome Home, Front Gate, or the Trailhead. If you take it farther, take it as far as you can, preferably back to where you came from