Ryan Tuss is the Green Team supervisor at The Gorge Amphitheatre near George in Grant County.
How do you set up a program to keep the cans, bottles and cardboard used by 25,000 concert-goers from ending up in the trash? According to Ryan Tuss, as quickly as possible.
Tuss is the Green Team supervisor and recycling coordinator at The Gorge Amphitheatre near George in Grant County. When he was hired to the seasonal position in 2008, he was asked to develop a green program – the sooner the better.
His primary focus then and now is keeping recyclables out of the trash and into 180-plus receptacles placed strategically near garbage cans around the 215-acre complex. Plastic, aluminum and cardboard gathered up this way are then sorted, thrown into larger bins, compacted and carted away to the Waste Management recycling center in Woodinville.
Tuss estimates 45 cubic yards, or 12 football fields covered with recyclables, are produced at each event.
The Gorge recycles over 50 percent of the waste produced by its patrons.
Tuss, 29, is an artist and teacher who took the coordinator’s job to supplement his income. He was singled out from a group of potential employees at a job orientation. “I had done it (recycled) at home and was a green head (translation: sustainable living enthusiast) in college so I did know something about it,” he said.
What he didn’t know he’s learned through research and experience. Concert-goers at Sasquatch, the three-day festival held over Memorial Day weekend, filled all the recycle bins on the second day. “We underestimated the resources needed” for the crowd, he said. Tuss said he’s learned to be better prepared by asking more questions of venue managers and the environmental coordinators who work for the bands that draw the huge crowds.
There’s an obvious perk to Tuss’ position: good music from top-name bands in a breathtaking setting overlooking the Columbia River. The downside: On concert days he works shifts as long as 14 hours.
One part of Tuss’ job is to make sure each band’s green requirements are met. Phish, for example, which appeared at the Gorge Aug. 7 and 8, included a four-page environmental rider in its contract requesting organic foods from local farms, reusable china plates and biodegradable coffee cups. Drinking water had to come from a local spring water vendor. The band asked for room for its buses and trucks to receive biodiesel deliveries. And six large recycling containers for glass, plastic, aluminum, paper and cardboard were to be set up backstage.
Other requirements: replace traditional light bulbs with compact fluorescents, institute a no-idling policy for venue vehicles, and use eco-friendly cleaning and restroom products.
Most bands have environmental guidelines and some even bring their own green coordinators, Tuss said. “I actually got to sit through most of the Coldplay concert (July 11),” Tuss said, because the band brought its own environmental managers.
The Dave Matthews Band, which will be at the Gorge over the Labor Day weekend, has long been a proponent of recycling, Tuss said. Singer/songwriter Jack Johnson kicked the green movement into high gear at the Gorge last year, he said.
Tuss and his motivated crew of six, who are students from Moses Lake and Quincy high schools and Central Washington University, do their best to meet bands’ demands. And they’ve instituted some green initiatives of their own. For example, hybrid vehicles are given a parking preference closer to the entrance gates. Tuss helped create a Green Zone within the complex for experts to set up demonstrations on green topics such as plug-in hybrid electric cars and sustainable foods. One of his crew members has drawn eco-action figures on plywood cutouts that encourage recycling. Visitors put their faces in a round hole where the figure’s face should be, then have their photos taken. The exhibit is used to draw people into the Green Zone.
“There’s so much more that I’d like to do with this program but it’s part-time, there just isn’t enough time,” Tuss said.
What he’s helped achieve is significant, though: The Gorge recycles over 50 percent of the waste produced by its patrons.
Tuss is an active artist and member of the Two Rivers Gallery in Wenatchee, where he lives. With the concert season soon coming to an end, he is looking forward to his new job as the art teacher at Liberty Bell Junior/Senior High School in Winthrop.
Related links:
Official Gorge Web site
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