The good news…
With an approximate 20% increase in attendance, the 2011 Pickathon ended up producing about the same total volume of waste (garbage, recycling and compost) as the 2010 Pickathon. What is even better is that 60% of that waste was not sent to the landfill in 2011 versus only 50% in 2010.

Even better news…
These numbers don’t even come close to what types of waste reductions were found when looking at a per person basis.

Here is how the numbers broke down for this year:

* There was a 17% reduction in volume of total waste (recyclables, compost, and garbage) generated per person over 2010 and 38% reduction compared to 2009! I attribute these numbers primarily to the introduction of the durable cups in 2010 followed by the reusable serving plates and utensils this year.

* The volume of garbage going to the landfill dropped by 33% reduction per person over 2010 (49% reduction compared to 2009). Again, the reusable cups, plates and utensils make up a big part of this number. Substantial waste was also diverted from the landfill by helping vendors with recycling/compost equipment and frequent pick-ups.

* No change in the recoverables (recycling and compost) on a per person basis from 2010 but a drop of 27% compared to 2009. We collected 10 cubic yards (cy) of glass (say it ain’t so!!), 40 cy of mixed recyclables (plastic, aluminum, and paper), and 10 cy of compost.

Well there we have it, strait from the Pickathon recycling/waste management/reusables head honcho – Jake Hofeld. Thank you Jake for this info and for an amazing team of volunteers.

And of course thank you everyone for playing the part and helping us make this a success.

We’ll do it again next year…