Beer, Film, and Zero Waste. The Sustainable Future for Events in Seattle.

Sustainable Seattle is pairing with New Belgium Brewing and the Clips of Faith Beer and Film Tour to produce a local, creative, artistic, and zero waste event at Gasworks Park in Seattle on July 29th.

This event, which is only two years old this year, will travel to 18 cities across the United States. Each city which is visited will have a local organization supported by the proceeds from the festival. The proceeds for Seattle will go to the Nature Consortium. Attendees will be able to view films from all different genres, lengths, and backgrounds, including one from a Seattle filmmaker Sam Nuttman called "The Millionaire's Club."

Sustainable Seattle will be responsible for organizing the recycling at the event. Zero waste is a trend which is beginning to catch on in many different locations and events. For example, upon entering Safeco Field to attend a Mariners game, you might see a large sign that depicts their efforts to make the ball field zero waste. It shows pictures of what can be considered compost, what can be considered recycle, and what might be trash. Only when we are able to create products and behaviors which result in zero items which must be "trashed" can we create a world where zero waste is the norm instead of the alternative option.

The idea of zero waste has been in the news lately for it's use in reality television, grocery stores, and the first zero waste energy plant.

Austin, Texas seems to be leading the way in innovative sustainability. A reality television show was produced by the City of Austin's waste management program called "Dare to Go Zero" aired on their government access channel. It lasted five weeks and the family with the highest percentage of waste reduction at the end won a $2,000 sustainable home improvement package. Their goal was to help the people of Austin learn more about recycling and reducing their waste. Another way residents can do this, coming in October, is to shop at a zero packaging grocery store. In.gredients will allow shoppers to bring their own containers and take as much or as little of different items they want. They want to help reduce waste from single use packaging of products (often sometimes double and triple wrappings) as well as processed food.

Had the concern over waste reached this extreme years ago, there wouldn't necessarily be a need for a $65 million zero-waste energy plant like the one which is being built in the Pampanga province. They have such a problem with waste that Mackay Green Energy (MGE) and Pampanga Green Management Inc. paired up to create and implement technologies which can use the province's waste to create green energy. You can read more about this innovation here.

So on July 29th Seattle will again join New Belgium Brewery and the Clips of Faith Beer and Film tour to create a zero waste event. This represents a great stride in a continued quest for sustainability in the city and will help put Seattle on the map with cities like Austin.