Forget pink, Pride events go green
Green is the new color code for the city's Pride events, as the various outdoor gatherings this weekend promote eco-friendly policies to lessen their impact on the environment.
The event promoters and city environmental officials are pushing a new mantra for attendees to chant: We're here, we're queer, we recycle!
"The notion of making Pride more ecologically responsible has been around a long time. We know we have a huge impact on the city. We bring in a million people over the weekend," said Mikayla Connell, president of the Pride board.
Whether it is crews at the Friday night Trans March who clean up litter at Dolores Park or a ban on plastic cups at the nighttime Pink Saturday party in the Castro, the push is on to implement Earth-friendly policies throughout the weekend.
"We hire a clean up crew so we don't leave any trash at the park. We even pick up any cigarette butts," said Trans March organizer Sam Davis.
According to a memo to Castro merchants, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are implementing a new recycling program at Pink Saturday this year. There will be additional trash and recyclable containers on the streets and a new waste management program, the purpose of which is to "keep the streets clean, reduce the amount of waste and increase the amount of recyclables" at the annual street bash and fundraiser.
According to figures from the city's Department of the Environment, Pink Saturday last year had a 27 percent recycling rate and was able to recycle 0.3 tons of mixed materials and sent 0.7 tons of garbage into the trash.
At the request of the city, the Sisters this year have also asked bar and restaurant owners not to use petroleum-based plastic cups and instead serve beverages in eco-friendly compostable corn cups. They will again be enforcing a "no cans or bottles" policy at the entrance gates, a rule first enacted in 2006, to help reduce trash and the risk of possible injury by broken glass.
"The city has put new restrictions on our permit. Pink Saturday has to be a green event this year," said Sister Barbi, the charitable group's spokesnun. "We will have stations for recyclables to keep the trash off the street and keep it eco-friendly."
Pride is also upping its recycling and waste management program this year. Event organizers first began a small recycling program in 1999, and in 2007, they diverted 66 percent of the two-day festival's refuse from going to landfills.
Last year Pride composted 3.6 tons or 7,200 pounds of food scraps and compostable waste and recycled 11 tons or 22,000 pounds of materials. Only 7.6 tons of garbage went to the landfill.
"[That] is phenomenal for an event that size," said Alexa Kielty, the city's residential and special projects recycling assistant. "I think there is a lot of momentum and interest both on the city's putting more attention to this whole issue and event producers are becoming more responsible."
After seeing Pride's success at implementing its recycling program, city officials decided to impose eco-friendly requirements on all street fair producers this year. Just as they have to apply for street closure and sound permits, event producers must also adhere to recycling mandates.
The policy actually had been on the books since 1989 but only recently has there been the staffing to enforce it. In a year or two Kielty said recycling of food scraps at outdoor events will become mandatory.
"We have helped events with volunteers and getting people to recycle compostable items," said Kielty. "We are getting a lot of the gay events. We have resources to help them. For the Dyke March, the San Francisco Conservation Corps will staff them for free."
Initially, Pride centered its green efforts on placing a few canisters throughout the Civic Center to collect recyclables. Now the organization brings in contractor May Briosos for several months each spring to help oversee its recycling program.
"When we first started we didn't do recycling at all. Then one person who is no longer on staff here, Regina Bauer, said we should start doing some recycling. At the end of the event there is a lot of waste and it didn't look right that it was going into landfills," said Joe Wagenhofer, a former Pride board member who now works as its event manager.
Pride does what is called fan-3 recycling, similar to what San Francisco residents do at home with their trash. At four recycling centers set up throughout the Pride area attendees will find blue bins for recyclables, green bins for food waste, and black boxes for trash. This year along with the main stage, both the Faerie Freedom Village and Leather Alley will have all three recycling bins, with the program extended to the other stages in future years.
"At first we had the green bins for our food vendors. Now that has developed into where the next step is we have participants do it," said Wagenhofer.
Last year Pride asked its beverage vendors to only use compostable cups, and this year, food vendors are being asked to use compostable plates, cups, and utensils.
"We gradually introduce it because it takes a long time to get the public accustomed to it and to get our beverage suppliers in getting in tune with giving us the product. Budweiser really helped us out in this process," said Wagenhofer.
Pride's recycling centers can be found in Civic Center Plaza opposite Bill Graham Auditorium on Grove Street; at the corner of Larkin and McAllister streets; in the food court on Fulton Street; and at the corner of Fulton and Hyde streets.
Pride also hires at $11 an hour a crew of 20 residents from the Community Housing Partnership in the Tenderloin to staff its recycling centers both Saturday and Sunday. Another 30 people are hired to clean up once Pride ends Sunday night.
"I think people are really pleased and happy with it. We certainly get people looking for places to recycle their stuff. I have noticed more people are seeking out the recycling places," said Wagenhofer.
While organizers have yet to buy carbon credits for the vehicles used in the parade or the electricity needed to power up the various stages, Pride is looking at other steps it can take to lessen its impact on the environment.
"The next step hasn't been required by the city yet but you know when you go to the site and visit different booths and are given plastic bags? Next year we will strongly suggest to all our exhibitors that they give things away in compostable plastic bags or recyclable paper bags," said Wagenhofer. The policy would parallel the city's new law banning large grocery and chain stores in San Francisco from using plastic bags.
Connell said the Pride board has yet to share best eco-practices with other Prides, though she said she would inquire about holding a seminar on greening the events at the annual meeting of the Consolidated Association of Prides Incorporated.
"Essentially it is all the Prides in the western United States. We get together and discuss issues on how to keep the movement going and how do we stay relevant," she said. "We can do a class at next year's CAPI meeting on what we are doing to be green. I will see that that discussion happens. I can't say Pride will come up with a solution to global warming and energy usage. I wish we did."