supporting sustainability

When Sisters High School wrestling head coach John Downs took over the program five years ago, the team had only two wrestlers, owed the school money and was facing the possibility of being dropped altogether. Downs offered to waive his coaching stipend and use those funds to help support the program — team uniforms, warm-ups and the mat were not in good shape, and the program could not afford a bus or driver.

“I trained to earn my Type-20 bus driver certification and used my stipend to help pay for the bus,” said Downs. “I was able to get us new clothing with donations from the Sisters community and family members, but replacing the mat was a whole new animal.”

Downs had done the research and knew that a new mat would cost around $10,000, while reconditioning the existing mat could be accomplished with half that amount — still a formidable amount for the struggling team. He reached out to the reconditioning company and found that they knew who he was due to his father’s reputation and previous relationship with the company.

“My dad, Ray Downs, was a high school wrestling coach for over 30 years in Oregon, and he used the same company many times,” said Downs. “I told them of my predicament regarding the condition of our mat and they said they would work with us. If we could come up with $2,000 to start, they would fix our mat and then we would pay the rest off the next year.”

In a fortuitous turn of events, Downs and co-wrestling coach Peggy Frye learned that Sisters Folk Festival was seeking assistance with their recycling and sustainability program and he contacted Ann Richardson, managing director of the festival, for more information. They learned that there was a need for monitors at the recycling stations set up at various festival venues throughout the event.

“She informed us that if the team took care of the trash and recycling, the Sisters Folk Festival would make a significant donation to our team,” said Downs. “This is the opportunity we needed.”

It was an opportunity for the festival as well. Over the years the organization has made multiple attempts to maintain a sustainable event, but the effort comes with inherent challenges, most notably finding the right people to lead and monitor the effort.

“It’s always been difficult to find continuity with people who are willing to do this kind of work,” said Richardson. “We’ve had some great success when we’ve had dedicated people to lead the effort. But as the festival and the volume of waste has grown, and as we have more and more people coming from places with different recycling options, it’s become more challenging to get it right. Peggy and John tackled it last year and we are so glad they are back.”

Richardson said that they have found that the only way to effectively recycle at the event is to have someone in attendance at the recycle stations to help people make good choices.

“Otherwise pretty much everything ends up being trash, because people just don’t pay attention to signage,” said Richardson.

With support from High Country Disposal — a festival sponsor — last year 10 wrestlers and six of their parents managed all of the festival trash, recycling and compost. The team will be grappling with the effort again this year, monitoring trash and recycle stations throughout the weekend, patrolling trash cans and emptying or replacing them as needed, taking glass to the recycle station and picking up trash around festival venues.

“Our event has a huge footprint on the city of Sisters and generates a lot of trash. We’d like as much of that trash to be recycled as possible,” said Richardson. “Our goal is to be a positive, contributing nonprofit to our community. Being responsible with our waste management is part of being respectful to our community.”

Downs and Frye are appreciative of the opportunity to involve their team in the effort, stating that the experience teaches responsibility and the chance to see hard work pay off. Despite some challenges last year, primarily around misunderstandings on the part of festival attendees regarding what is recyclable and what is not, Downs expects the effort to go more smoothly this year now that they are “veterans” in the recycling effort.

“Some attendees feel they know what is best, and when a high school student tries to explain to them the local recycling program rules — such as what goes where — some folks just don’t want to listen,” said Downs. “They sort it themselves, contaminating the container of items, and then the container needs to be sorted out or is too ruined and must go as trash.”

Based on last year’s experience and feedback, the festival is now committed to increasing awareness and education efforts in support of people being able to make better decisions about recycling during the festival.

“At last year’s festival we had many patrons who didn’t understand that what you can and can’t recycle here in Central Oregon is, in some cases, significantly different than where they live,” said Richardson. “We literally had people arguing with students who were trying their best to help people recycle the right items.”

High Country Disposal is the service provider for waste disposal and recycling in Sisters, and as a long-term sponsor of the festival they donate services to the event. They have been impressed with the efforts the festival has made to successfully divert recycling and compost from the landfill, and recognize the challenges in the process.

“Recycling can be challenging at events in general where people are coming from all different areas, and what is acceptable in one city may not be the same in another,” said Susan Baker, marketing manager for High Country Disposal. “The key is having the recycling area monitored and staffed so they can help direct the material to the appropriate container — letting folks know what materials are recyclable in our local market.”

Containers at the festival are marked with photos and information showing what materials can go in the recycling and composting carts. Baker hopes the presence of the signs and the volunteers will help direct event attendees to put the material in the proper container.

“If you follow the recycling guide and only include what is acceptable in the program it will help keep the material free of contaminants,” said Baker. “If items are put in the cart that are not listed as acceptable from the recycling guide, that material will be a contaminant in the recyclable material.”

In general, paper products, cardboard, aluminum, tin cans and plastic bottles and tubs are acceptable items, said Baker. The number system used to identify plastics in other areas is not used in Central Oregon; plastic bottles and tubs six ounces or larger (water bottles, yogurt tubs, sour cream containers, etc.) are accepted. Plastic bags, film, packaging, and saran wrap need to be kept out of the recycling carts. And of course, no garbage of any kind should be placed in the recycling cart.

“The best tip is to just follow the recycle rules posted on the recycle cans. These signs are provided by High Country Disposal, not the wrestling team,” said Downs. “I want people to understand that the wrestling team is doing the best they can. These are high school boys and girls trying to help their community and planet, so have patience with them.”

Despite the challenges, Downs, Frye and the team — numbering 27 last year, the largest wrestling team in the school’s history — are looking forward to participating in the sustainability efforts at the festival again this year. Thanks to the funds raised through the effort, which allowed them to make their down-payment, they have already welcomed their newly reconditioned mat back to the school.

“The seniors this last year deserved this beautiful new mat. They wrestled for me since sixth grade and followed me up to the high school and stuck with me for four more years,” said Downs. “It was a wonderful feeling to unroll the mat for the first time and see the faces of the wrestlers and how excited they were to see their hard work for Sisters Folk Festival and other community events pay off.”

To learn more and access recycling guides that include detailed information, visit highcountrydisposal.com.