Collingswood Green Festival Set for April 16

Collingswood, NJ -- Collingswood’s eighth annual Green Festival is set for Saturday, April 16 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. along Irvin Avenue, borough officials said on Tuesday.

The festival focuses on Collingswood’s particular dedication to eco-issues as a municipality and the dedication to green initiatives by its residents and businesses.

“We are so fortunate to be able to really live green in Collingswood,” Commissioner and event organizer Joan Leonard said. “Our children plant trees yearly in Knight Park, our citizens have worked to markedly increase recycling and composting and are opening our second community garden. We are outstandingly motivated to reduce what goes into our waste stream and show leadership regarding green initiatives.”

Organizers are looking for volunteers to set up the event from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., break it down from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. and then clean up after.

During the event, volunteers can help with multiple events throughout the festival.

Interested vendors and volunteers can call Leonard at 856-858-4545 or email jleonard@collingswood.com. Attendees can recycle items such as natural corks, ink cartridges, cell phones, bagged packing peanuts, rechargeable and button batteries, rinsed Capri Sun pouches, Brita filters, all paired and reusable men’s, women’s and children’s shoes, including athletic shoes, dress shoes and work boots.

They can bring their old Crocs brand shoes to recycle into new Crocs to be sent to developing countries.

The Recycle Tent provides recycling ideas for residents to reduce their waste stream.

There will be live music and an eco-artisan mall featuring food from local restaurants, farmers and specialty organic vendors.

The festival also provides booths with environmentally friendly products, tips, demonstrations and information about new ways of thinking and living green.

“With more than 70 participants there really is something for everyone,” Leonard said. “People from one to one hundred can learn easy ways to reduce their impact on the planet.”

There will be an artist booth, where a local artist will give a tutorial on painting nature scenes.

Guests can also learn about things such as local, sustainable food, cloth diapering, water conservation, renewable energy and green buildings and development.

They can also pick up free tree seedlings as well as shade trees, backyard composters or rain barrels, all at subsidized prices.

In the Kids Zone, little ones can visit the face-painting booth, enjoy arts and crafts and get a head start on environmentalism.

At the Bike Share tent, guests can learn to tune up their bikes from mechanic volunteers and sign up for the Bike Share program, which costs $25 to rent a bike for a year.

Attendees can drop off hazardous waste at the Green Festival because the event coincides with Camden County’s Hazardous Waste Collection.

Public Works on North Atlantic Avenue will accept the hazardous waste.

Although latex paint can be dried out and disposed of in regular trash, this year the Green Festival is collecting old latex paint for reuse in community projects. Residents can bring their old cans of latex paint to the event and they’ll be combined in one drum for use in repainting volunteer projects and other community initiatives.

While electronics cannot be brought to the County Hazardous waste event that day, you can bring electronics for recycling (old TVs, monitors, laptops, radios, FAX machines, keyboards, DVD players, stereo equipment, typewriters, VCRs, scanners, printers. Do not bring disassembled or broken equipment that cannot be reused) to the designated area under the Speedline by Perkins Center for the Arts/paper shredding area. Otherwise, electronics must be recycled year-round at the County’s Sanitary Landfill in Pennsauken (9600 River Road).

Additionally, medications cannot be disposed of at the County event, but can be discarded year-round at the Collingswood Police Department’s medicine drop box at PD Headquarters, 735 Atlantic Avenue.

For the most up-to-date schedules and events at the festival, visit collingswood.com.

The attached images from previous festivals were provided by the Borough of Collingswood