Photo: Kristen Holliday

Rotary's Tom Dickinson helps a RibFest attendee dispose of a drink container at one of the festival's sorting stations.

About 90 per cent of the waste generated by this year’s Kamloops Daybreak Rotary Ribfest was diverted from the landfill, according to an estimate from the City of Kamloops.

Marcia Dick, the city’s solid waste reduction coordinator, said there was about 18,000 kilograms of waste generated during the event, with over 16,150 kilograms diverted.

“It was really impressive,” Dick said.

“It’s pretty hard to achieve. 95 per cent diversion is considered zero waste by definition, because it’s impossible to divert everything.”

This year, Daybreak Rotary organized 12 waste sorting stations for attendees and 10 stations back-of-house for ribbers and vendors, with bins for organics and various types of recyclables in addition to a garbage container.

Volunteers were on hand to help people determine which bin they should choose for their waste.

Daybreak Rotary offered a sustainability award as an incentive for competing ribber teams, with judges factoring in their use of compostable ware and how well the teams sorted their own waste.

RibFest organizer Bryce Herman said there are still some materials from the event that they are looking to upcycle, so the final number of diverted waste may be higher.

Herman said the team is happy with the numbers.

“We look at it as being close to a success as far as zero waste, so we're ecstatic,” Herman said.

“There are some things that just aren't recyclable and outside of our control. But as far as the diversion, we are ecstatic.”

Herman said strong waste diversion efforts is something future RibFest attendees can come to expect.

“We actually have a sustainability committee within Rotary now. So it won't just be RibFest, but it'll be other projects that we'll be looking at,” Herman said.

“We are looking at reinvigorating the B.C. Rivers Day, and taking a large role in that in September here as well, to see if we can’t get our rivers cleaned up, and the areas around them.”