Sunday marked the seventh annual Oceanside Earth Festival.
Many of the booths on Pier View Way in downtown focused on how to “reduce, reuse, recycle, and rethink.”
Oceanside was the first city in San Diego County to adopt a Zero Waste Initiative in 2010, and passed a Zero Waste Plan in 2012, with an active goal to divert 75 percent to 90 percent of its waste from landfills.
Like other California cities, Oceanside reached the mandate of 50 percent diversion of waste from landfills by 2000. All cities in the state are now taking on a steeper mandate of 75 percent diversion by 2020.
The city is well on its way to meeting its goals, said Colleen Foster, Oceanside solid waste and recycling management analyst.
“In 2008 to 2010 we were generally around a 50 to 58 percent recycling rate,” Foster said. “And then once we passed the Zero Waste Plan and our community got engaged through Earth month, Green Oceanside, and our Road to Zero Waste program, we’ve taken our recycling rate to over 70 percent, one of the highest recycling rates in California.”
Other California cities that already divert 70 percent of their waste and are reaching for 90 percent include San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Oceanside’s Earth Festival filled four downtown blocks and drew a crowd of around 5,000, with eco-friendly tips for homes and businesses, interactive activities for kids and families, and vintage and re-purposed items for sale.
