The Rotary Club of Newport coordinated Newport’s Seafood & Wine Festival “Green Team” for the third year in a row since restarting after COVID and all are thrilled with what was achieved!

This consisted of 55 shifts filled by Rotarians and other community volunteers from various local service organizations. Not only is this a fundraiser for the club, but the club also considers it a service project as it’s meet Rotary’s 7th area of focus – the environment.

The 4-day festival has been running since 1971 and now boasts 25,000+ attendees. It features regional seafood and wine and is an economic boost to Newport during a typically slower time for the tourist industry, but creates a large waste footprint.

Here are the recycling/composting numbers in comparing last year to this year – we’re pretty excited by the results our Green Team achieved.

2024
9,180 pounds of glass recycling
740 pounds of food waste composted
2,380 pounds of recycling (mostly cardboard)
Filled 21 BottleDrop bags with proceeds going to Newport Boosters Club

2025
11,720 pounds of glass recycling
1,700 pounds of food waste composted
2,640 pounds of recycling (mostly cardboard)
Filled 23 BottleDrop bags with proceeds going to NHS Grad Night
* 9,120 pounds did go to the landfill, but 64% of the total waste was recycled or composted.

It was a huge success and example of bringing people together for something good – economic boost to our community and lessening the environmental impact! The Green team helped in diverting tons from the landfill and carried out two of Rotary’s seven areas of focus – community economic development and the environment.

Volunteers get a 3-day pass to the festival so if you’re interested in volunteering next year for the festival, email [email protected] to be put on the volunteer signup list.

News Source : https://rotarydistrict5110.com/seafood-wine-festival-green-team-success/