Description
Every summer since the mid 1990s, the North Carolina Museum of Art has hosted its outdoor “Arts in the Museum Park” series featuring live music, movies and fine art. The NCMA events typically host 1,800 guests during concerts and 600 guests for movies. Beverages are the main concession sold at the events and they are sold in glass, plastic and aluminum containers.

Implementation
The recycling bins used during events are very similar in size and in shape to a typical trash receptacle. To prevent confusion, the bins have labels that designate them as recycling bins as well as a small door on the lid which must be opened to place any recyclables inside. During each event a bin is placed beside each trash receptacle.

When a bin is not placed beside a trash receptacle the clean-up crew noticed a considerable amount of recyclables in the trash. In addition, each guest is given a personal trash bag at each event, and the clean-up crew also noticed recyclables in these bags. After each event, the clean-up crew empties each bin into a recycling roll-off dumpster located in the parking lot. Every Monday following an event, Orange Recycling Services picks up the material. NCMA notes that this is vital to the recycling program, since the NCMA does not have the capacity for prolonged storage.

Before the events, the NCMA educates the clean-up staff on which products are acceptable to recycle and identifies possible contaminates. The clean-up crew appoints a recycling leader to further enable the program to run smoothly. Also, the NCMA has a “green team” on staff which assists in planning and modifying the events to emphasize recycling. Overall, the clean-up staff does not feel that the implementation of a recycling program impedes the clean-up process.

Results:
The NCMA believes about 75 percent of the guests attending the events use its recycling bins. The clean-up crew also notices considerably less trash with the use of recycling bins.