Fey’s reaction: OK. Let’s get started.
"He was able to change systems,” Andrejewski said. “He was able to connect with people. He got the borough, he got Centre County Recycling and Refuse, he worked with the campus, he worked with the Office of Physical Plant, The Sustainability Institute and got us all in a room, talking and brainstorming, and had us own the process. After that first meeting, I was like, 'Oh, this is actually going to happen.'"
Noteworthy for both Fey and Shafer is the new motto that their plan gave birth to. Instead of volunteers wearing shirts that read, “The Few, The Proud, The Trash Crew,” volunteers sported shirts that ended with, “The Green Crew.” This distinction is important, Shafer said, because it helps not only change behavior, but begins to impact the thought process behind people’s actions.
Education plays a big role in this transformation. Shafer said many local residents already know about composting and recycling since it’s available to them on a residential basis, but just as important is passing along the information to visitors.
During Arts Fest, Shafer talked to two women who don’t live in the county, and each wondered if it’d be possible to incorporate a similar composting program in their hometowns. All of this takes time — motivating behavior and instilling a new sense of environmental awareness — but Fey is confident they’ll get there.
"It'll take a couple years for them to learn and get into the groove of what the changes are, but education has been really important," he said.
By 2016, organizers are hoping to reach an 87-percent diversion rate — the percentage of potential trash that is saved from the landfill and recycled or composted instead — and Fey and Shafer sounded optimistic about reaching that goal.
“Everybody was excited and on board with this idea, so we took off and ran with it,” Baney said. “It was fairly easy to start initiating things because it was already in place here.”
They’re building on what’s already in place in the borough, said Carol Baney, Class of 2011 and director of operations for Arts Fest. She and other Arts Fest representatives began attending the committee meetings that Fey had organized with University and community leaders, and she saw the value in what Fey was trying to do since this is a concept the area has already taken to.
Baney expects this idea to grow in the future. They started small this year, putting out only six organic bins so to not overwhelm attendees, but Baney said more bins should be available next year. Organizers will also have data to pore over, though they’re waiting on the official numbers to see how much of a tangible impact the changes made. Because of the late start in the planning for this year, Fey and the others weren’t able to contact vendors ahead of time. For next year, though, they’re hopeful they’ll convince vendors to bring only recyclable food containers to Arts Fest to help cut down on the potential waste stream.
They’re able to think long-term because of the support they’ve received, both externally from visitors and attendees who gathered in State College who took advantage of the new options, but also internally, from Arts Fest board members.
"That's key, that support from the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts board has been absolutely key because we wouldn't be able to be standing here if they hadn't embraced this whole concept,” Shafer said. “So I'm really grateful for that."