City of Mission Viejo, Waste Management Introduce Food Waste Recycling at Annual Fourth of July Street Faire and Fireworks Spectacular

The City of Mission Viejo and Waste Management announced today the addition of food waste recycling at Mission Viejo’s Annual Fourth of July Street Faire and Fireworks Spectacular this July 4, in an effort to encourage recycling practices. The patriotic festival, which is organized by the Mission Viejo Activities Committee starts at 12:00 p.m. on Olympia Road between Marguerite Parkway and Melinda Road.

Nearly 20,000 event goers are encouraged to recycle their food leftovers by placing them inside specially marked Waste Management food waste collection carts that will be located near the food stands.

“We are proud to be one of the most environmentally conscious cities in Orange County,” said Denise Matson, environmental program administrator for the City of Mission Viejo. “Large community events can produce extra trash, including food waste that can end up taking valuable space at local landfills, so we’re thankful to be working with Waste Management to make sure food waste no longer goes to waste.”

Earlier this month, the team of food vendors received special training by Waste Management recycling experts on acceptable food items and how to encourage attendees to recycle their food left overs. Once collected, the food waste will be transported to Waste Management’s cutting-edge food and organic recycling facility, located in Orange, using the CORe® system, a proprietary process that creates a unique engineered fuel source that can be used for a number of sustainable applications, including the creation of green energy.

“We are very excited to participate in this fun, family-friendly celebration of our nation’s birthday alongside the City of Mission Viejo,” said Tom Koutroulis, district manager for Waste Management of Orange County. “We enjoy opportunities like this where our team can partner with the city to engage with and educate the community about how important it is to recycle. Now with food waste recycling, residents will celebrate our nation by helping to conserve its precious natural resources.”

Attendees can also expect to see clearly marked Waste Management recycling collection boxes located at various places throughout the fair and may have the opportunity to be “caught green handed” by Waste Management representatives who will be on the look-out to randomly reward event individuals caught recycling at the event.
The Mission Viejo Activities Committee has been hosting this classic Fourth of July Street Faire and Fireworks Spectacular, a free all-day music and crafts event, since before the city’s incorporation. The free family-oriented patriotic festival takes place every year featuring food, game booths operated by local service organizations, crafters, merchandise and a variety of music bands.

ABOUT WASTE MANAGEMENT
Waste Management Inc., based in Houston, Texas, is the leading provider of comprehensive waste management services in North America. Through its subsidiaries, the company provides collection, transfer, recycling and resource recovery and disposal services. It is also a leading developer, operator and owner of waste-to-energy and landfill gas-to-energy facilities in the United States. The company’s customers include residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers throughout North America. To learn more about Waste Management, visit www.wm.com or www.thinkgreen.com.