To mark America Recycles Day (yes, that’s a thing and yes, it’s today), Rec and Park announced that the Eco Pop-Up at Dolores Park has been successfully diverting the majority of waste produced in the park away from landfills and will return in spring.
The Eco Pop-Up consists of several large recycling, compost and trash dumpsters at the Dolores Street curb that is staffed on holidays and weekends to help people puzzle out whether pizza boxes count as recyclable or compostable. Parks staff announced that 81 percent of the waste from park users from April until the end of October was kept out of landfills on Eco Pop-Up days. That’s compared to less than three percent before the park’s renovation – and consider that park users can generate some 7,000 gallons of refuse in a single busy weekend.
When the pop-up is not in session, Rec&Park says, “pack it in, pack it out.” Or use receptacles along the outskirts of the park.
And if you need extra motivation to recycle, here’s the moving cinematic tale of a bottle that dreams of being a park bench from Keep America Beautiful:
