(Chelsea Update would like to thank Jean Vargas for the information in this story.)
In December, the annual Christmas dinner was held for more than 240 people at the Chelsea Senior Center (CSC). It was a sit-down holiday meal and was open to everyone.
Volunteers such as the mayor, police chief, Chelsea School District administrators and members of the CSC board helped to serve and clean up after the event.
During planning for this event, much effort was dedicated to having a pleasant dinner with a minimum of waste.
- Table cloths were washable.
- The place mats were red recyclable paper and were so festive that several were taken home for reuse.
- Table napkins were unbleached compostable paper.
- Dinner plates as well as any leftover food were compostable.
- Drinking cups were recyclable or compostable.
- Flatware was washable.
After everyone had finished and enjoyed a pleasant dinner, cleanup was quite simple. Thanks to the Washtenaw County Water Resources Department and its Zero Waste Washtenaw program for providing the composting containers and taking the compostables to become soil enrichment instead of trash.
Many of the diners helped with cleanup and were eager to learn more about zero waste strategies and practices.
The only practical way to measure the worth of these efforts was to weigh each of our collections:
Compostables = 39.1 pounds
Recycling = 2.08 pounds
Trash = 1.94 pounds (Mostly foil butter wrappers and plastic coffee creamer cups).
Total 96% diverted from the landfill
If you would be interested in making your family or organization events closer to Zero Waste, please contact the Chelsea Zero Waste Coalition on its Facebook page or email: [email protected].
