WATCH: Robin Hood's Sustainability Efforts Were Featured on NBC Boston Local News

After summer 2022, I spent some time reflecting on how we impact the environment as a community. We can all agree that we need to do better for the environment. With a few minutes each day thinking about our actions and making small changes to our routine like composting our food waste, recycling our cardboard, or picking up our plastic bottles we are changing our world for the better. I want our campers to know that when we walk out of that dining hall with the sun is shining down on us, and the skys are blue. That we are doing our part to make sure the next generation of campers get to experience the same thing. I hope that the kids go home, and take what they learn here and make the world a better place.
~

We are very excited to share some details about the hard work our campers and counselors have done this summer to transform the way we look at our trash. We partnered with Casella Waste Systems to find a better use for the waste we create every day at camp, and prevent it from going to landfills. Our campers and counselors have answered the call, and together, to date, we have diverted 23 tons of waste from landfills, with a goal of 50 tons by the end of the summer. Leading our efforts to be green is our focus on diverting our food waste. Traditionally, our food waste went straight to landfills. We wanted to find ways to divert and reuse this otherwise wasted carbon. Traditional composting, due to the scale of our operation, was not an option. We are happy to share that we are the first camp in the world to install a Grind 2 Energy food processing system. Using this system, our food waste will become a slurry and be transported to an anaerobic digestion facility here in New England. At the anerobic digestion facility, our food waste will be processed into biogas, which can be combusted to generate electricity and heat or processed into renewable natural gas and transportation fuels. At the end of this process, the solids that are left over create highly nutrient-rich fertilizers that are used on farms across the country.

We didn't just stop there. We also wanted to find a way to recycle materials here in the White Mountains. We invested in a bailer system where we are capturing alumium, cardboard, and plastics. These three streams of recyclables are collected and then bailed into bails that are sent straight back to the manufacturing process.

With all of these initiatives this summer, we are currently at an 80% diversion rate from landfills. Our goal is to become a true zero-waste summer camp within the coming years.

Meeting Our Commitment...