Business & Tech
Novato Festival Aims to Go Green
An ambitious recycling program highlights efforts to reduce festival's carbon footprint.
Organizers of an annual Novato bash are aiming for heavy foot traffic and a light footprint.
This weekend's 30th Annual Novato Festival of Art, Wine and Music, which typically draws crowds up to 90,000, will feature an ambitious recycling program that includes composting and special bins for food containers.
The annual North Bay bash is presented by the Novato Chamber of Commerce.
“We're trying to be as carbon-neutral as we can,” chamber CEO Coy Smith said. The festival is aiming for an estimated 75 percent recycle rate, up from last year's event, which achieved a 68 percent capture rate, Smith said.
The chamber has tapped the North Bay Conservation Corps, a San Rafael-based group promoting sustainable practices, to lead the festival's recycling efforts.
The group will the set up eco-stations with color-coded recycling bins. They will service and manage the eco-stations throughout the festival, Smith said.
“They'll be all over the festival so it's easy access for people to recycle their stuff,” Smith said.
For Smith, the chamber's mission of being good environmental stewards is personal. He came to the chamber 8 ½ years ago with business experience that included 25 years in recycling-related industries. Smith has a degree in environmental studies and has run recycling programs for cities, counties, and private companies.
“It's a passion of mine, so when I came here and realized part of my job was to manage the festival we started looking at things we can do to make it greener and greener year by year by increasing our ability to do recycling,” Smith said.
“We're a very green festival.”
Smith's group is already trying to make next year's event even greener.
They're working on installing filtered water stations that would service people bringing reusable bottles. The stations would replace or at least reduce the amount of plastic bottled water sold at the festival. The cost and feasibility of setting up water stations have not yet been determined, Smith acknowledged.
But he insists the chamber remains committed to doing what it can to help make the festival more environmentally friendly.
The annual North Bay bash is presented by the Novato Chamber of Commerce.
“We're trying to be as carbon-neutral as we can,” chamber CEO Coy Smith said. The festival is aiming for an estimated 75 percent recycle rate, up from last year's event, which achieved a 68 percent capture rate, Smith said.
The chamber has tapped the North Bay Conservation Corps, a San Rafael-based group promoting sustainable practices, to lead the festival's recycling efforts.
The group will the set up eco-stations with color-coded recycling bins. They will service and manage the eco-stations throughout the festival, Smith said.
“They'll be all over the festival so it's easy access for people to recycle their stuff,” Smith said.
For Smith, the chamber's mission of being good environmental stewards is personal. He came to the chamber 8 ½ years ago with business experience that included 25 years in recycling-related industries. Smith has a degree in environmental studies and has run recycling programs for cities, counties, and private companies.
“It's a passion of mine, so when I came here and realized part of my job was to manage the festival we started looking at things we can do to make it greener and greener year by year by increasing our ability to do recycling,” Smith said.
“We're a very green festival.”
Smith's group is already trying to make next year's event even greener.
They're working on installing filtered water stations that would service people bringing reusable bottles. The stations would replace or at least reduce the amount of plastic bottled water sold at the festival. The cost and feasibility of setting up water stations have not yet been determined, Smith acknowledged.
But he insists the chamber remains committed to doing what it can to help make the festival more environmentally friendly.
"We feel have to be good stewards of the city and good stewards of the planet for future generations,” Smith said. “We need to set a good example and one of the ways we set a good example is practicing methods that show we're as environmentally responsible as we can be and we take pride in that.
“It's just an important component of moving the festival forward and not adding burdens to future generations for waste disposal and things like that.”
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