CITY FRUIT LAUNCHES CITYWIDE EFFORT TO SAVE APPLES & REDUCE WASTE
2016 Save Seattle’s Apples Campaign in Full Swing
SEATTLE, WA (May 12, 2016) – City Fruit is excited to announce the launch of the organization’s second Save Seattle’s Apples campaign. In partnership with Seattle Public Utilities, Seattle Parks and Recreation, Greater Good Granola, and Seattle Cider Company, this spring pest prevention campaign is building awareness about Seattle’s urban canopy and the proper care and management of apple trees, as well as providing opportunities for the public to protect apples. Additionally, the project aims to reduce waste that unnecessarily ends up in the compost bin.
“Food waste makes up one third of Seattle’s residential garbage”, said Veronica Fincher, Waste Prevention Program Manager at Seattle Public Utilities. “We’re excited to be part of a project that helps prevent food from becoming waste–especially since food is no longer allowed in the garbage”.
In 2014, City Fruit was forced to compost over 12,000 lbs of fruit harvested from Seattle’s urban canopy. This fruit was unusable due to insects, poor tree management, or neglect. After City Fruit’s first Save Seattle’s Apples campaign, the 2015 harvest resulted in only 3,000 lbs of compost, a vast improvement over 2014 that provides a huge boon to Seattle’s emergency food system. Through education, outreach, and direct hands-on assistance to tree owners and community members, City Fruit hopes to continue to lower this number in order to prevent food waste in Seattle.
“City Fruit depends on community volunteers who generously give their time to help us preserve and deliver the maximum possible locally grown fruit crop to local food banks,” said executive director Kate Morrison. “For example, a group from KeyBank will be joining us on May 25 at Danny Woo Community Garden as part of its annual Neighbors Make the Difference Day, a corporate day of service, to help us cover some of our fruit trees in netting. We couldn’t do it without groups like KeyBank and other individuals who are committed to our mission.”
From April through June, City Fruit will provide free pest barriers to Seattle tree owners and will host a series of outreach events in four Seattle neighborhoods focused on covering trees to prevent pests in public orchards and on private property. On Friday, May 20th at the Good Shepherd Center (N 50th St.) from 12 – 4 pm Seattle Cider Company and community volunteers will be celebrating this year’s campaign by netting the orchard’s fruit trees. City Fruit will also co-host screenings and discussions of the eye-opening film, Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story, in collaboration with Meaningful Movies. Free pest prevention materials will be available at each of the five screenings.
Learn more about the Save Seattle’s Apples campaign the City Fruit website: www.cityfruit.org/ssa.