1. A “Zero Waste” Approach at the Del Mar Fairgrounds
Nancy Strauss
Resource Conservation Coordinator
Del Mar Fairgrounds, Del Mar, CA, USA –
Good Afternoon! Thank you for being here and letting me share with you some of our award winning Recycling and Resource Conservation Program ideas.

2. Program Ideas Introduction Zero Waste as a Goal
Fairgrounds Recycling Program Overview
Other resource conservation programs

3. The Del Mar Fairgrounds, Del Mar Horsepark, Surf and Turf, and the Recreation Center consists of approximately 400 acres and is owned and operated by the 22nd District Agricultural Association, an agency of the State of California. The Fairgrounds Mission Statement reads: “To manage and promote a world class, multi-use, public assembly facility with an emphasis on agriculture, education, entertainment, and recreation in a fiscally sound and environmentally conscientious manner for the benefit of all.”
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4. The Del Mar Fairgrounds has over 3 million visitors each year
The Del Mar Fairgrounds has over 3 million visitors each year. Guests attend the annual San Diego County Fair, The Del Mar National Horse Show, The Del Mar Thoroughbred Race meet and hundreds of other events held throughout the year. Our off site horse facility, Horse Park, offers horse shows, boarding for 200 horses, training and riding for the entire family.
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5. Pelly’s Mini golf, the golf driving range and tennis courts at, Surf and Turf, are busy year-round.
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6. Fairgrounds Recycling Program
Began in 1985 with office paper recycling & now recycles, participates in the local alternative daily cover program or sends to compost over 21,400 tons of material representing 92% of our solid waste.
With support of the Board of Directors, Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, Premier Foods, Management, Recycling Staff, and others, the recycling program grew in leaps and bounds
The Fairgrounds adopted a goal of “Zero Waste or Darn Close”
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7. Here is a picture of the grounds with the San Diego County Fair in full swing. One of the advantages of the Fairgrounds recycling program is we haul our own recyclables.
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8. In the early 80’s the General Manager decided we should haul our own trash. Going from hauling trash to hauling recyclables was an easy transition because we use much of the same equipment. We are able to choose where we take our valuable material.
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9. $150,000 in Container Grants
We purchased some recycling supplies and applied for numerous grants from the California Department of Conservation and the California Integrated Waste Management Board totaling $150,000. With these funds, we purchased recycling bins, service carts and a baler. The signs with the bins are made in-house along with the sign holders. We went with blue recycling bins because they stand out and in most cases, it is the same color residents use at home.
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10. Materials Recycled, Re-used, Composted or used in the local Alternative Daily Cover Program:
Aluminum, Appliances, Antifreeze, Asphalt, Batteries,
Cardboard, Carpet, Carpet Padding, Ceiling Tiles, Clothing,
Compost, Concrete, Dirt, Drywall, Electronics, Fluorescent
Lamps, Food Scraps, Glass, Greens, Mixed Paper,
Newsprint, Oil, Paint, Plastics, Metals, Rail Road Ties,
Shavings, Straw, Telephone poles, Wire, and Wood
Here are most of the materials we recycle, Re-use, send to compost and the majority of our greens are palm fronds, succulents and ice-plant that go for Alternative Daily Cover.
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11. The Fairgrounds currently hauls containers on loan from Allan Company for Aluminum, PET Plastic, and scrap glass.
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12. Straw removal during the races
Put Photo Here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club rents additional trucks for hauling animal bedding because of the volume during the race meet and contributes nearly half of our annual diversion efforts!
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13. Financial Benefit of Recycling
In 2009, the combined Financial Benefit saved over $1.1 million.
Financial Benefit = Revenue earned + landfill diversion savings – tipping fees
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14. Year-round the Fairgrounds staff collects pre-consumer fruit and vegetable scraps from the Fairgrounds Kitchens. When there is a large amount of food scraps they can be run through a pulper and then fed to worms in our vermicomposting bin.
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15. VermiTech Worm Bin
The 28 foot Vermitech worm bin handles approximately 250 lbs of kitchen scraps per week during the annual Thoroughbred racing season. The worm castings will be used in the gardens on the Fairgrounds. Worm castings are like time-released fertilizer and help plants grow strong. The worms “Eisenia Fetida” are in a Vermitech bin which contains a fan for temperature control, lighting and a shaving bar that automatically slides across the bottom of the material and shaves off the vermicompost for collection.
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16. Vermicomposting Partnership with Solana Center
This year we have formed a partnership with Sandy Atkinson, Executive Director of Solana Center of Encinitas. Their volunteers Cheryl Broadhead and Mike Murphy help us better maintain the worms on a year round basis, checking on them regularly. The goal is happy worms! When the worms need thinning out, they will be utilized by Solana Center for their vermicomposting educational programs.
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17. One of our hungry little critters
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18. Here is a picture of our pre-consumer food waste collection during the San Diego County Fair totaling over 20 tons in just 21 days. There is too much volume for our worms and they don’t really care for citrus. It’s hauled in a sealed container to Mira Mar Greenery to be composted.
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19. The challenge: Three years in a row we tested the opportunity to capture more compostables in our waste stream. We targeted an area where people sit down and eat, put signs on the tables and signs as one enters the area noting a “Zero Waste Zone” Here you see we were separating in three bins. The next year 2006 we went to 2 bins because people couldn’t or didn’t want to take the time to figure it out. Coaches could make a difference here…
Staff emptied the containers and would pull any contamination on the top of the pile. In the final analysis, there was still too much plastic contamination for the composter and we had to stop the program.
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20. Our Other Resource Conservation Programs
The Fairgrounds saves $45,000 annually on our sewer bill by keeping food out of the kitchen drains
The Fairgrounds has developed an Environmentally Preferable Purchasing and Practices Policy
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21. Continued… Other Conservation Efforts
The Fairgrounds uses 75 acre feet of reclaimed water annually for landscape purposes, including the grass race track
Staff created The Annual Enviro Fair for public education now held during the Annual San Diego County Fair one day, June 19th.
Formed a “Green Team” to oversee Source Reduction, Energy Conservation, Recycling and buying recycled content products in each department.
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22. Poly Track
January Installed a new $8.5 Million “Poly Track” race track surface made of recycled carpet fiber, used tires and waxed sand. The Poly Track was a great contributor to our water savings of millions of gallons of water during the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club Race Meet. In 2009 the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club converted the reverse osmosis unit from treating potable water to treating reclaimed for use on the Poly Track. There were numerous other programs implemented resulting in an approximate savings of 24,477,550 gallons of water over the last 4 years.
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23. Solar Array
Installed 1 megawatt of solar energy on the roof tops of 11 horse barns
The Fairgrounds installed a megawatt of Photovoltaic Solar Energy. The Solar Array covers 11 of our horse barn roofs in the stable area and currently supplies 15.9% of our annual electrical usage. The Solar Array was purchased with a grant covering approximately ½ the cost of the $4.5 million dollar project. In 2009 we reduced our energy consumption by 5.2 % from the previous year.
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24. Credits Del Mar Fairgrounds Board of Directors
Tim Fennell – CEO – for his support and leadership
Ric Anthony – Ric Anthony & Assoc. – numerous projects and mentoring
Larry Baumann – Solar Project
Dave Wilbur – Recycling Manager
Fairgrounds Management, Staff & Recycling Crew
Fairtime and year-round contractors, Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, Premier Food Service and other contractors and other participants
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