Buffalo Grove Days is making recycling easy for residents
Recycling is going to be a lot easier at Buffalo Grove Days this year, thanks to plans sketched by the Village.
Working with Waste Management, Village officials are putting into place 50 recycling and waste containers around the event site at West Lake-Cook Road and Raupp Boulevard.
“Buffalo Grove Days is the highlight of our summer,” said Village Manager Dane Bragg. “We're planning for a lot of fun this Labor Day weekend. We've incorporated recycling into our plans to make Buffalo Grove Days one of the best and most environmentally sensitive community events anywhere.”
Waste Management will be using new stands that hold clear plastic recycling bags, which will be attached to their waste containers.
“We're introducing the new recycling stands so all the event-goers can easily and quickly identify where to put their recyclables,” said Mike Brink, Waste Management's municipal marketing representative for Buffalo Grove. “Our goal is to increase the volume of recyclables collected from the event, make recycling more accessible and simple, and contribute to the cleanliness of the grounds.”
Started as a community picnic in 1958, Buffalo Grove Days has become a five-day fest that draws visitors to its carnival, live entertainment, parade, fireworks, bingo, food tent, arts and crafts fair, business fair, pancake breakfast, BBQ Challenge, and youngsters craft tent.
Waste Management's Brink said the Company is participating in the parade and will demonstrate one of its newest trucks powered by compressed natural gas. The Company is moving to natural gas vehicles because they reduce smog-causing emissions and particulate matter by more than 90 percent and cut greenhouse gases.
Waste Management has adopted several sustainability goals, among them tripling the volume of recyclable materials it processes annually to more than 20 million tons and reducing fleet emissions by 15 percent and increasing fuel efficiency by 15 percent by the year 2020, Brink said. The new CNG trucks will help the Company achieve that goal, he said.