The Whole Earth Reusables Cooperative (WERC) was formed for the 2002 Whole Earth Festival as one more step toward a waste-free ideal model of an ecologically sustainable event.  Through the cooperation of our volunteers, festival-goers, and, most importantly, food vendors, we hope to successfully eliminate the concept of disposability as a part of the Whole Earth Festival.  Reusing dishes directly reduces our contribution to the landfills, saves forests, prevents land/air/water pollution, and saves energy costs associated with shipping and manufacturing.  The program also gives the consumer a first-hand educational experience that connects them with their responsibility to the resources they consume.  

Here is how it works:

• When you purchase food from a vendor, pay a refundable deposit for your dish.   
• After finishing your meal, drop your dish(s) at one of the two refund booths and collect your deposit.

April 30th, 2010

Hi Festival goers!  One of your WERC (Whole Earth Re-usables Cooperative) directors here!  This year, the festival unfortunately discovered a huge number of plates, cups, mugs, and utensils had been taken from our storage site and not returned!  The Festival had to purchase thousands of replacements using its limited reserves.  For this reason and because dishware has become more expensive, we decided to raise our utensil deposit fee to $1 (from 50 cents).  You will certainly be able to get your $1 back when you return your utensil back to the booth!  If you want to contribute to the festival's Zero Waste mission through re-usables, composting, and recycling, please consider "donating" your plate back to the festival. Please help spread the word about this very simple way to help out the festival.  We may even have a "donation express lane" (a way to avoid the wait in line!) at the dish return booths as well as a roving dishware collector (wearing  KP volunteer shirt) that may carry a sign and bucket and give you a convenient drop-off point.  These new aspects to WERC may help cover the cost of the dishware we purchased this year! Our mission is Zero Waste, and we hope you'll join us! Another way to help is to visit the Karma Dome and ask about helping with the WERC team through joining the Karma Patrol. 

Thanks to all the Karma Patrollers helping usher in the decade where the zero waste philosophy becomes realized!

Enjoy this festie and know that it has a greater purpose to protect this great earth of which we are part!

Love your Mother Earth by bringing reusables with you wherever you go and telling others why it's important. YOU can make a difference. The zero waste revolution has begun! 

Derek Downey
 one of the WERC directors of 2010!

Attention

If you have any WERC (Whole Earth Reusables Cooperative) plates, cups, mugs, spoons, forks, or chopsticks that you accidentally took home from festivals past, or acquired by other means...please return them! You know what they look like...the lovely yellowy plates and those blue-gray mugs. Sure you're fond of them, and you've enjoyed them for a while, but WERC needs them back. We will be at the KP meeting this Wednesday,  starting at 6:30, to collect them.You can turn them in at the KP meetings or at the Festival. Thank you!