How To Throw a Green Party

When you book a party at any of the BTPD facilities, we encourage you to keep it green!! — We provide you with recycle bins to use for your event and ask that you keep the environment in mind during all your activities.
 
But you can also make sure all your parties are "green" by following these tips:

Recycle! Choose recyclable products. — Identify items and packaging that can be recycled and then be sure to recycle them! Our landfills are full of recyclable products that were thrown in with the regular trash.

Here are things that you can recycle right at your event site: pop cans, aluminum containers, plastic water and juice bottles, glass tea and juice bottles, 2-liter pop bottles, cardboard and paper packaging (be sure to "break down" cardboard boxes before putting them into recycle bags, or the waste management company won't pick up!)

Reuse! Consider reusable products. — Many products are designed to be used more than once. That not only saves the environment, it saves you money!

Here are things you can use for your event that can be used over again and again: reusable utensils and serving ware (if plastic, remind your guests not to throw them in the trash!), washable cloth napkins or tablecloths, reusable plastic table cloths, reusable shopping bags, and reusable plastic containers for leftovers.

Buy biodegradable! If you must use disposables, purchase biodegradable party ware made from vegetable starch. Although it's a bit expensive, you won’t feel guilty putting it in the landfill or you can reuse it or compost it!

Remember these don'ts! Don’t use polystyrene or Styrofoam — It takes 500 years to decompose in the landfill! Don’t place garbage in recycle bins! — After your event, check through the recycle bins to make sure no garbage was accidentally dropped into them; also check to make sure cans and bottles weren't put into the paper recyclables, etc. Don’t waste! —Reduce first; purchasing over-packaged items or over-buying is a common non-green mistake; also avoid small individual packages of items.

Plan ahead! When planning your party, think more than guests, dates, times, and events. Remember also to plan to Rethink, Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle!

BTPD Green Practices

BTPD already has some green practices in place, some for a good number of years. For example, when trees and and fallen tree limbs must be removed from our parks, they are thrown into a wood chipper. Perry Farm visitors are probably familiar with the huge piles of wood chips visible from the playground area. These chips are used for mulching our gardens and around other trees. Wood chips help soil retention, weed reduction, and even fertilization as they slowly decompose.

Some trees, especially those located in the Illinois Nature Preserve around the Indian Caves, are left in the area they fall, moved only to clear the hiking/biking paths. This allows animals and bugs to make homes in the fallen trees as nature slowly recycles the wood over the years. As the name suggests, a nature preserve preserves the natural environment with as little human interference as possible.

Visitors to the Indian Caves area are asked to tread lightly on the land and carry out any trash. Picking wildflowers or disturbing the land in any way is prohibited in the Nature Preserve.

Burns. You may have noticed large portions of grassland burned to the ground in Perry Farm and elsewhere. These are controlled burns on an alternating schedule to simulate natural fires that helped restore the prairies before humans invaded it. The burns strengthen the native plants, control weeds, and return nutrients to the soil. Have you seen how quickly these charred fields return to healthy green? Mother Nature knew what she was doing!

Facilities. As mentioned in the "How To Throw a Green Party" article to the left of this column, BTPD will provide group events with trash and recycle bins for use at the activity. You may want to ask for them as you plan your event or, if you don't see any when you arrive, ask a BTPD representative to supply them. And then please encourage all your members and guests to use them responsibly. Much of our staff is volunteer, so also please clean up after your activity before you leave. Other park users don't want to see your confetti poppers and streamers lying around the park or gazebos!

Green Clean Parties. Unfortunately, not all our park users are environmentally responsible and our maintenance staff is limited, so we encourage your group to throw a "Green Clean Party." — Hike our paved and wooded dirt paths and streams with garbage and recycle bags and help us in our continuing efforts to Go Green!!