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HI-5 Recycle container

The County of Hawai`i is currently providing HI-5 beverage container recycle bins free of charge to those that are hosting events on our island. Please review the informational sheet for ClearStream Bin rental for further details.

 

Are you planning an event or activity? How about hosting a "Zero Waste Event?" The goal is to reduce waste to the greatest extent possible. Event planning is key to creating a successful Zero Waste event. Identify areas where you can reduce or eliminate waste and then set goals for yourself. It's possible to even cut costs with some of these strategies. Here are some tips on how to Reduce, Reuse, & Recycyle your way to your very own Zero Waste event. There are some additional resources to help "green" your event. And, remember, be creative and have fun!

TIPS FOR THE HOLIDAY SEASON:

REDUCE

•Encourage all your guests to carpool.
•Use electronic invites via email. Forecast the head count so that there isn't large amounts of wasted food at the end of the event.
•Keep decorations to a minimum, and if you do decorate, do it with flowers and fruits from the garden.
•Buy fresh, local, unpackaged, and/or bulk foods when possible. By buying in-season, local food products, everything from eggs, meat to vegetables and beer and wine. Buy local, organic vegetables at your local farmer's market. Buy local produced and/or organic beer, wine, and liquor. And rather than buy bottled beer, would it be more cost effective to order a keg? And if you must, put some unique happy holiday stickers on each person's glass because they'll be reusing, rather than disposing.
•Cook multiple items in the same oven, ditch the 8 hr roast and BBQ instead
•Run appliances like your dishwasher on full loads only
•Give leftover canned good and unused, unprepared food to Food Bank
•Make sure your Christmas lights (if you must) are on a timer and shorten the length of time they're on. Set it to after sunset and have them turn off automatically around bedtime.
•Use candles at the dinner table and lower the lights to save on electricity.

REUSE
 •Use reusable plates, flatware, glasses, tablecloths and linen, and if you don't have enough of these items, then see if you can borrow from family or friends. If you must use single-use disposables use compostable tableware and work the leftovers into your compost.

RECYCLE
•Make sure you recycle all your mixed recycling, for example plastic 1, 2, & 5 and aluminum food containers, wrapping paper, gift boxes, wine and beer bottles.
•Set up a composting system to divert all prep and post-consumer food discards

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