Beer glasses made from compost

- I was given permission by the Innovation Dock outlet to set up my environmental station here, but in reality I am on the municipality's ground. I cross my fingers that they do not send me packing, says Marthe Myrtvedt, laughingly, while feeding her miniature pig "Goliat" with some cornflakes. Photo: Håvard Tanche-Larsen Knutsen / byas.no

Beer glasses made from compost at food festival

The beer glasses are made of compost and should be thrown away together with the food waste. We are speaking of the supplemental food festival to the Gladmat, namely the Edible City Party (Spiselig byfest).

 

But it does not stop there. The same applies to the cutlery, plates and napkins.

– Oh, really? That is actually quite cool, says Eirik Leiros to Byas on Thursday evening.

He is hanging out with some friends in the Lervigtunet Park, in the Eastern part of the City Centre, enjoying a couple of beers.

The area of the Edible City Party is almost full; the queues to get a bit to eat and drink start to grow long. But instead of the guests getting beer in plastic glasses and having to eat barbequed spareribs using plastic cutlery, there is bio-plastic on the menu.

– I do not notice anything weird about the taste, Arvid Apeland Rolland chuckles and takes another sip of beer.

Second year with bio-plastic

The enthusiastic volunteers behind the festival in the Eastern part of Stavanger encourage all outlets to cut down on plastic use as much as they can – or to purchase bio-plastics instead.

– Plastic is a major challenge to the environment, so we should make demands on each other, says Manager at Ostehuset Øst, Børge Svensen.

The bio-plastic was also used last year and is made of sugar cane, vegetable oil and cornstarch. It can be thrown directly into the food waste and eventually become compost.

That is just great, the organizer thinks. The bio-plastics is however somewhat more expensive than regular plastic. Even Svensen has bought 8,000 disposable beer glasses and says that the price is NOK two for one. Then there are plates, cutlery and napkins on top of that.

– So it is an investment, but we try to do what we can. There is no one in the area here that uses 100 per cent normal plastic, he says.

Fantastic effort

The outlets have welcomed the eco-friendly initiative from the organizers.

– We serve everything using biodegradable brown paper, so we do not have to use so much plastic, says Shop Manager at Idsøe, Thomas Ottesen, from the door of his serving trailer in the middle of the park.

– It is good for the environment; it also works as well as ordinary plastic. It’s a terrific measure, says Noah Whitson in Quality Junkfood.

He has also a small apology to make. On Thursday evening, the outlet ran out of bio-plastic cups.

– So now we’re sinning a little bit, but luckily we have plenty left of everything else, he says.

Wish to sort the mess

Others have also done a little extra to assist the environment during the Edible City Festival. The sorting stations are also located in the Lervigtunet Park. A little further down the street, next to the serving terrace belonging to Innovation Dock, Marthe Myrtvedt is setting up her own environmental station.

– There are huge amounts of waste at such festivals. Often, everything comes in a bundle. It should not be like that when it is so easy to do something about it, she says.

The garbage cans Myrtvedt has made herself and she has to empty them repeatedly. The money from returning bottles she donates to WWF, and she brings all the garbage to the inter-municipal waste return station (IVAR) after the festival is over.

– I have to be a bit nasty and ask: why are you bothered to do this?

– To raise awareness! Sorting of waste is important, and we should end the use-and-discard mentality that prevails in our society, Myrtvedt promptly says.

Gladmat outlets have the same offer

You can also find bio-plastic if you visit Vågen during the Gladmat festival.

Festival Manager, Maren Skjelde, says that Gladmat has encouraged exhibitors to choose these products, but the main challenge is the sorting afterwards. At such a big festival, with so many people attending, it is difficult to do it properly.

– I understand that people can ponder why there is no form of waste sorting at Gladmat, but it suffices that one in one hundred throws the waste into the wrong bin. Then it all must go into residual waste anyway, says Skjelde.

She applauds the work by the Edible City Festival adding that the garbage from Vågen will benefit people as well.

– It is being sent for recycling at Forus. There it will become district heating, she says.

 

© Byas.no / #Norway Today