Chumash honored with Zero Waste award
With an all out effort to divert trash and unused food from landfills, the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians has received a top honor for its efforts at the Chumash Casino Resort.
The tribe has earned the TRUE (Total Resource Use and Efficiency) Zero Waste certification from Green Business Certification Inc. That company recognizes excellence in green business practices.
Tribal Chairman Kenneth Kahn says they have studied ways to recycle the waste on site or with off site non-profit and private partners.
Overall it’s about being solid stewards of the land. “So that’s exciting to be a leader. We will continue to carry on the customs and traditions of our stewardship,” said Kahn.
The Custodial Services Manager heading up the program, Mark Funkhouser says he looks for ways to divert the waste early on, “before it gets co mingled, before it becomes trash. You can get to that stream before it happens, you can make money you can pay for the labor to sort it.”
Other casinos and businesses are calling now to learn more about the programs and partnerships. “We have actually created a sustainability association just for Native American tribes and gaming facilities just so we can have these conversations,” said Funkhouser.
He says from the property they collect nearly 3-million styrofoam cups that are collected.
They go to the Dart Container Corporation which reprocesses Polystyrene into picture frames, crown moulding and other products.
The Santa Maria based company Engel and Gray takes landscape trimmings and pre- consumer food scraps for their compost facility and make a tropical soil mix.
The tribe buys it back and uses it on its landscaping along with reclaimed water.
“But what they have done here is making sure they are repurchasing it and closing the loop. It is great to compost but you need to drive that market.,” said Stephanie Barger, Market Transformation & Development Director for TRUE Zero Waste.
In 2018 more than 4-million tons of food was donated to the non-profit group Veggie Rescue. That’s turned into soups and meals for the Buellton Senior Center and some who get personal deliveries in the valley to make sure they have nutritious food.
The Chumash are also finding ways to recycle and reuse old uniforms, cigarette butts and cooking oil.
Santa Barbara County Supervisor Das Williams presented the tribe with a special honor and said, “even really progressive jurisdictions are at 70 percent recycling. That means the tribe is going way over what very progressive cities and counties can accomplish. And every percentage point higher is way harder than the percentage before. It’s your nature to recycle the easiest stuff first.”
Williams says the tribe has gone above what the county has been able to do with its own waste especially in the area of certain plastics and mixed paper for composting.
