When you live in a place like Yamhill County with such a thriving agricultural economy, Earth Day takes on a new significance.

This community is extremely important to the Yamhill Enrichment Society (YES). As a project of YES, one key mission of BOYC is to draw national and international attention to the dynamic local culinary scene, which relies heavily on Yamhill County agricultural products. While promoting these resources, it’s important to also protect them. That means being a good steward of the land, which we support by minimizing waste streams headed for landfills.

BIG NIGHT, the grand finale of BOYC, takes place at Sokol Blosser Winery. Attended by more than 400 guests, the evening features twenty local chefs collaborating with twenty County farmers to create twenty delicious dishes. Twenty-five Yamhill County vintners pour a variety of wines. Attendance is over 400 guests, so potential waste is significant. This is why for the last several years, BOYC has partnered with Zero Waste McMinnville to reduce garbage going into landfills.

Ramsey McPhillips, president of Zero Waste McMinnville, says, “BOYC has been the perfect event template to roll out our real time practice of eliminating all waste going to landfills. We consider providing waste reduction education as our number one goal and have noticed a clear uptick of improved zero waste behavior at BOYC over the last two years. This year our goal is to assist in composting BOYC food waste at the vineyard so that the transportation footprint (and cost) associated with waste reduction is further reduced. Bravo to Susan Sokol Blosser for having the highest Zero Waste number of any event in the County!”

Last year, BOYC diverted 830 pounds of waste at BIG NIGHT, meaning less than 4 percent of waste ended up in a landfill. More than half of the diverted material was glass bottles and commingled recyclables with compostable items making up the rest.

Join us in taking care of our planet and local communities by remembering to recycle wine bottles and plastic/cardboard/metal food containers.