Shucks. The reusable and recyclable aluminum cups the Arcata Bay Oyster Festival planned to pour libations into have hit a snag. According to a press release from Arcata Main Street, “supply chain issues” mean the planned zero-waste event will have to use plastic. If you’ve got a non-glass pint cup or an aluminum one from previous years, it’ll get you a $0.25 discount on your drink.
“Since
our county is unable to process bio-plastics, we will be purchasing plastic cups locally to be
used at the Oyster Fest on June 10th. This is obviously not the situation we wanted to be in,
however we do have plans to mitigate the waste and make sure all the plastic is collected,
sorted, and sent to the appropriate recycling facilities,” the release states. Zero Waste Humboldt will still be collecting compostable waste and otherwise keeping the trash out of landfill.
See the full press release below:
PRESS RELEASE June 9th, 2023
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEEvery year, the team at Arcata Main Street strives to put on the best Oyster Festival possible.
As members of this community, we know and understand how deep these roots go and how
important this event is for our City.This year, to be as zero waste as possible, the Arcata Main Street team purchased aluminum
cups instead of the traditional steel cups that we all know from Oyster Festivals past. We
decided that this option would be better as these cups are 100% recyclable and made from
post-consumer aluminum. We are also aware that people have many past festival cups taking
up space in their cupboards and pantries.Due to supply chain and customs issues, these cups will not be arriving in time for the festival
on June 10th. We only learned how dire the situation was on Monday, and have quite literally
done everything in our power in an attempt to make these cups show up on time. It’s simply
not going to happen. Needless to say, the team over here at Arcata Main Street is extremely
disappointed with this situation, but the show must go on.We have a contingency plan that was approved in conjunction with Arcata City officials. Since
our county is unable to process bio-plastics, we will be purchasing plastic cups locally to be
used at the Oyster Fest on June 10th. This is obviously not the situation we wanted to be in,
however we do have plans to mitigate the waste and make sure all the plastic is collected,
sorted, and sent to the appropriate recycling facilities. Zero Waste Humboldt is handling
refuse and compost collection and we do not expect the festival operations to be impacted by
this development.The only plastic that is being used at the festival will be the beer cups. Our amazing food
vendors have gone above and beyond and removed all plastic from their operations for Oyster
Fest and we couldn’t be more appreciative.We encourage everyone to bring an Oyster Festival Cup from previous years, or any non-glass
pint-sized cup, to keep our plastic consumption as low as possible. We will be honoring the
$0.25 refund on purchases to anyone who brings a reusable cup to the festival.We appreciate your understanding and we thank our entire business community for their
support.Keep on shuckin’ Humboldt!
This article appears in Launching Nigilax̂.
