The average North American produces 4.5 pounds of waste each day and less than 1.5 pounds of that is recycled or composted. During a three day regatta with over 1500 athletes, that 4.5 pounds per day amounts to a lot of trash!

For the fourth year running, the Brentwood Regatta was a green operation. In an effort to be a zero-waste event, the campus was equipped with four streams for sorting: the unavoidable garbage, refundables, recyclables, and “extreme” compost which included all food and paper products and biodegradable utensils from the enviro-minded entrepreneurial booths. We asked all athletes and attendees to pitch in by sorting their waste so very little ended up in a landfill. In doing so, over one tonne of potential garbage was diverted to be reused, recycled, and returned to the earth.

A well-loved tradition of regatta, the Entrepreneurship 11 food booths were rated on the BEAT’s green scale this year and teams with more ecologically friendly products were awarded green stars. This year, it was a close race as many groups had planned their products well and most of their packaging was compostable.

Despite well advertised help with sorting, instances of refuse in the wrong bins were still apparent but, with the help of volunteers from the First Cobble Hill Scouts and Venturers, their leaders, and Brentwood students, the waste was put in its proper place and most garbage was avoided. Without help from these caring volunteers and everyone who participated by putting their waste in its correct stream, a mass of garbage would have been transported by boat across the border to a landfill. This is an expensive process that harms both the environment surrounding the landfill and the global environment with pollutants produced by transportation. The money saved by diverting this year’s waste can instead be donated to deserving local scouts.

Many, many thanks to all those who donated their time this regatta weekend, especially Ms. Richardson, Mr. Griffiths, and Mr. Norman, the green regatta organizers.