Spring Recycle Fest celebrates Earth Day in Bethlehem

Local residents turn out to reuse and recycle

BETHLEHEM — As Earth Day and America Recycles Day highlight environmental programs around the Capital Region, the Town of Bethlehem Spring Recycle Fest on Saturday, April 20, celebrated another successful year of encouraging the community to be sustainable all year. 555 households participated in the event, dropping off tens of thousands of pounds of materials for reuse and recycling.

“This is a special focus for Earth Day and America Recycles Day as a fun community event that brings a lot of people together, and maybe they’ll get inspired to do this throughout the year,” said Dan Lilkas-Rain, Recycling Coordinator of the Town of Bethlehem.

The yearly event is a massive coordination effort between the Town of Bethlehem Recycling & Composting Department, Parks and Highway Departments, Bethlehem Central School District Green Team, the Delmar Farmers Market, Grassroot Givers, Wheels Up and Troy Bike Rescue, 3N Document Destruction, American Clothing Recycling Company, Casella Waste and Recycling, Twin Bridges, and Brand Builders working with Orbis.

Local nonprofit Grassroot Givers collects and sorts books, distributing them for reuse. An estimated 5,800 books were donated at the Spring Recycle Fest. Grassroot Givers and volunteers sorted out over 2,500 high-quality titles that they will redistribute in the community. The remaining books were recycled by Twin Bridges/Casella, along with 480 lbs of cardboard boxes that were flattened and recycled.

Every year, Wheels Up and Troy Bike Rescue send volunteers to collect ‘used but usable’ bicycles and training wheels. They do repairs as needed and redistribute them into the community for those in need. On Saturday, 92 adult and kid bikes were donated for reuse to Wheels Up and Troy Bike Rescue.

An estimated 5,600 lbs of secure shredding was done on-site by 3N Document Destruction of Clifton Park. This material is baled and sent to a paper mill for recycling back into paper products.

“We’ve been providing this service for years now,” said Rain. “The shredded paper gets recycled after it’s shredded, so it’s not only providing the service of the document’s secure destruction, but that paper is being turned into toilet tissue, paper towels, and those kinds of things.”

The entire event is co-sponsored by the Bethlehem Central School District Green Team. “It wouldn’t be possible without the School District Green Team,” said Rain.

“The Bethlehem School District is really committed to trying to walk our talk about modeling sustainability,” said Mark Warford, Bethlehem Central Middle School Assistant Principal and coordinator of the Bethlehem Central School District Green team. “We’re always looking for ways to educate our kids and engage the community to do the best that we can for the kids and future generations.”

Along with staff volunteers, middle school and high school volunteers assist in putting the event on. “We get hundreds and hundreds of cars. Some of them are jam-packed with textiles and recyclables,” said Warford. “We’ve got dozens of student volunteers that come out and assist in unloading the vehicles at the different stations that people stop at.”

“People are very thankful on the day of the event,” he continued. “I have students who will ask me, ‘When is the next recycling event coming up? When are we going to do that again?’ The feedback is that the kids enjoy working it and want to come back; it’s a positive. The kids want to continue to provide community service and enjoy it.”

The mission of the event is to encourage practicing sustainability throughout the entire year. Items such as rain barrels and composting receptacles are designed for repeated use in gardens and homes. Nearly 100 backyard composters, accessories, and rain barrels were pre-ordered online and picked up at the Spring Recycle Fest.

“One of the things that comes out of this collection event is that it’s a reminder of what you can do all year round,” said Rain. “If someone is purchasing a rain barrel or a composter, the hope is that they’re going to use that all year long to be more sustainable.”

Over the years of hosting this event, hundreds of backyard composters and rain barrels have been distributed to the community. “People are always grateful for not only the opportunity to do composting and collect rainwater for reuse in the garden but also the chance to do that at a wholesale price,” he continued.

“Environmental awareness in general has increased,” said Warford. “This is an opportunity to give back.”

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