Everyone knows that food is a big part of the Winnipeg Folk Festival. For the past three years, Green Action Centre has been working closely with these good folks to turn food waste from all that deliciousness into compost.

This year, there will be pilot projects to introduce composting in Festival Camping and for festival attendees who enjoy a meal in the food vendor area.

These pilots build on the significant amount of composting that now takes place at the Festival, including all of the:

  • Beer and wine cups at the taverns, including backstage
  • Plates, bowls, cutlery and food scraps from meals for the 2500 volunteers and performers backstage
  • Food preparation scraps from the food vendors and from the volunteer dining tent backstage

That’s a lot of organic waste! These compostable materials are collected by two crews of volunteers who gather them up in bins, pails and bags. A few times over the course of the Festival, Samborski Environmental Ltd. comes by to pick it all up and turn it into high grade compost.

So if you’re out at the Folk Festival this July 6-10, keep an eye out for the compost pails, bins and cup collectors (aka cupsuckers) – more and more places to put your organic waste! For more information about this year’s Festival performers, tickets and features, visit the Festival web site.