At a watch party for the U.S.-Australia match on Juneteenth in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood, hundreds of people set up lawn chairs and laid out blankets in the park outside the public library. The city hired Perennial Zero Waste to help manage the trash and food waste. Perennial, a company that aims to help eliminate waste, has worked on big events around the region. That day, it offered reusable cups and plastic “boats” to replace paper plates and thin plastic bowls.
“In events where reuse is present, we are able to divert more food waste, typically from the landfill, and compost it appropriately than we would otherwise be able to,” said Victoria Steward, the company’s project manager. ”People are much more likely to scrape their food waste into the compost if they know that the dish is reusable and is going to need to be washed.”
According to Steward, people stop to think about where dirty dishes should go when they feel the weight of the hard plastics in their hands. Nearby, volunteer Kayah Swanson helped direct people to where they should place the reusable containers, recyclables, and food waste.