Brome taking another pass at a “green” fair
As the old saying goes, “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”
That’s the approach that the Brome Fair is taking with regard to composting and recycling on the grounds. Having tried and failed to adopt the model in 2015, Fair Vice President Lee Patterson said that the fair is looking to go green again this year, this time with the help of Festivals et événements verts de l'estrie (FÉVE), a Sherbrooke-based organization focused on helping to make events and festivals in the region more environmentally friendly.
“It’s a bigger expense for us, but the goal is to create less material waste over the days of the fair.” Patterson said, sharing that the first attempt failed not due to a lack of interest but because of a number of organizational factors ranging from small containers to poor signage.
“The containers were too small and they filled to fast to sort properly,” he recalled, noting that the result was a mess of cross-contamination that sent otherwise compostable or recyclable material to the garbage.
“Every event has a different reality,” said Sophie Valence-doucet, Coordinator of FÉVE. “An event of 200 people will not be the same as an event with 50,000.”
FÉVE is part of the legacy of the 2013 Canada Summer Games in Sherbrooke and has been working with organizations and events across the region for the last six years. Drawing on that experience, Valence-doucet said that there is more to making an event environmentally friendly than simply tossing a few recycling bins into the mix.
“Ecoresponsability is a whole process,” she said, stressing the fact that organizers need to build environmentalism into the whole planning process in order to have a hope of meeting the goal of being a green event.
With that in mind, Patterson said that the Brome Fair team has been working closely with FÉVE from early days in order to be ready when the gates open this year. In addition to fixing past mistakes and having a larger team on hand to help make fair-goers aware of where to put what waste and why, the vice-president said the site will also be styrofoamfree this year, with compostable plates and cutlery at all the food stalls and more limited use of plastic straws.
Part of the increased expense in this year’s effort, Patterson said, is that composting regulations in Brome-missisquoi don’t allow compostable materials to be delivered in bags.
“It has to be just the raw material, which is not feasible for us,” the vicepresident said, explaining that the end result is that the organic waste from the fair has to be shipped to the Valoris site in Bury.
It remains to be seen just how green the fair can be this year, but in the leadup Patterson said that he is encouraged by the way vendors and participating groups have gotten on board with the idea and put his faith in the experience and expertise of FÉVE on the matter.