This year’s Millbrae Art & Wine Festival will take on a distinctively “green” hue. Designated a “Cool City” by the Sierra Club, the City of Millbrae will join forces with South San Francisco Scavenger and the Millbrae Chamber of Commerce to promote and emphasize recycling at the popular Labor Day Weekend festival, September 5-6 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Broadway.

Iyemon Cha Green Tea Gives Thanks for Being Green Iyemon Cha (www.suntory.com/iyemon_cha), the new premium organic Japanese green tea, will support the Millbrae Art & Wine Festival's efforts to be eco-friendly this year by donating free bottles of Iyemon Cha to those who are helping to make the festival green. Free bottles of Iyemon Cha will be given to the first 100 attendees who take the BART shuttle to the festival, as well as to the Boy Scout Troop Clean-Up Crew working to "green" the festival grounds.

“We’re committed to making the festival as eco-friendly as possible –– it’s a big priority for us and something we hope to improve upon each year,” said John Ford, President/CEO of the Millbrae Chamber of Commerce. “We’ve taken steps to make it easier than ever for festivalgoers and vendors to conserve resources by recycling and composting.”

Festival food vendors have been encouraged to use recyclable and compostable food ware. Containers will be made available to food vendors for composting left-over food scraps including meat and bones, paper plates, cups, chopsticks, skewers and napkins. This material will be collected and added to South San Francisco Scavenger’s existing Commercial Composting collection program.

“We’re delighted and pleased to partner again with the Chamber of Commerce,” said Millbrae Mayor Marc Hershman. “It fits in with our efforts to create a sustainable community, will help to promote recycling and will reduce the amount of garbage placed in landfills.”

Recycling is another major component of the “greening” effort. The festival will be serving beer in bio-degradable plastic cups. Free-standing containers will be positioned throughout the festival route for recycling glass bottles, plastic bottles, and aluminum cans with separate containers for cardboard and mixed paper. The festival will recycle all 1,500 bottles of wine and margarita mix.

The festival is also encouraging the use of public transportation to minimize carbon emissions and reduce vehicular traffic. Free round-trip shuttle service will be available from the Millbrae BART/Caltrain station every twenty minutes, dropping off and picking up riders at two festival locations –– Victoria/Broadway and Taylor/Broadway.

South San Francisco Scavenger is a leading integrated solid waste management company in the Bay Area offering debris box, recycling and garbage services for residential and commercial customers. For additional information, please go to: http://www.ssfscavenger.com.