Winslow Township was all about being green at its sixth annual Green Fair.
Residents were able to do away with unwanted paper, get useful information and spend the day with and friends and family while doing some fun activities at the Winslow Township Municipal Court Complex.
A lot of the success of the event is due to the efforts of Carolyn Chaykin, head of the board of health. Chaykin explained why she and the township are so motivated to be green.
“Wanting to be more sustainable is one of our goals, and so this was part of that,” she said. “We started it all those years ago through Sustainable Jersey.”
Sustainable Jersey is a nonprofit organization that provides tools, training and financial incentives to support communities as they pursue sustainability programs.
There are several actions municipalities can take to become more green and sustainable, earning a certification with Sustainable Jersey. Teaching prescription drug safety, proper disposal of drugs, recycling, and waste reduction education and compliance are all methods used to earn a gold, silver or bronze certification.
“We created the commission, and the commission decided on what we were going to do. Now we do this event every year for our residents,” said Chaykin.
The past Green Fairs have been very successful to the point where Winslow Township has been awarded a silver tier certification.
Every year, the Green Fair gives the Winslow Township residents a chance to do away with their unwanted paper with the shred truck. This is the sixth year the township has had the shred truck at the event, and residents showed up in droves to have their paper shredded.
“We have the shred truck, it’s our big draw,” Chaykin explained on how the shredding of papers helps the environment. “It keeps it out of the land waste and it gets recycled.”
The shredding is only open to residents of Winslow Township.
The township had the opportunity to teach the young ones about sustainability and being green.
“I think it’s extremely important to teach the little ones at a young age how important it is to be sustainable and to recycle,” said Chaykin.
Christopher Waldron, director of sustainability for Camden County, educated individuals about the positives of being green.
“We talk about all sorts of things. We don’t focus on any one specific initiative of sustainability or being green, but sort of help promote it at a larger level,“ Waldron said.
They promote things like recycling, bike programs, family pathways and walkability.
He also spoke about the benefit of being able to grow crops all year long through the use of a hydroponic greenhouse.
“What’s good about it is that you can grow year-round because it’s not dependent on the weather,” he said. “Obviously, you can grow outside like this time of the year, but you can’t grow outside in January. Our biggest season is really in the winter, so in January we’re growing about 700 heads of lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes inside, when you can’t do any of that outside.”
The Green Fair was able to dabble into the realms of mad science with mad scientist Carol Moore, who displayed her bubbles and brews for everyone to learn.
She gave demonstrations of things like making dry ice and why you should never substitute it for regular ice. The kids got the opportunity to make slime.
“Our whole goal is to introduce kids to science in a fun interactive way so as they grow, even if they don’t remember the principle of sublimation of going from a solid state directly to a gas, they have somewhere in the back of their mind that this is fun to do,” she said.
