Carmel Christkindlmarkt cuts Christmas waste

Duke Energy and Hamilton County Tourism have given the Carmel Christkindlmarkt more than $20,000 in grant funding for the 2024 season to support the organization’s recycling programs. Both organizations also supported the recycling program in 2023.

This year, thanks to a partnership with RecycleForce, Christkindlmarkt should produce even less waste.

“Sustainability is one of Duke Energy’s fundamental objectives,” Duke Energy Government and Community Relations Manager Mark LaBarr said. “We’re proud to support the Christkindlmarkt’s recycling program again this year as it aligns with our corporate values.”

The money will be used to fund efforts to reduce the Market’s waste through both public-facing and behind-the-scenes recycling efforts.

“Supporting the Carmel Christkindlmarkt’s recycling efforts advances Hamilton County Tourism’s commitment to sustainability while creating a cleaner, greener experience for everyone,” said Hamilton County Tourism Director of Community Engagement Sarah Buckner. “We hope all Christkindlmarkt visitors enjoy the holiday spirit while making a positive impact that lasts beyond the season.”

The Carmel Christkindlmarkt recycling program began last season with support from both Hamilton County Tourism and Duke Energy in 2023. It featured 60 new waste receptacles with signage encouraging recycling and sharing cultural facts about Germany and recycling.

“Sustainability is not only a value to us at the Carmel Christkindlmarkt,” Carmel Christkindlmarkt CEO Maria Adele Rosenfeld said. “It’s also a cultural value for Germans. Given our mission around cultural education, we felt it was very important to become more sustainable ourselves.”

According to Rosenfeld, recycling is a German tradition. Germany has the third-highest recycling rate in the world and the highest in Europe. Forty-eight percent of waste is recycled, and 19 percent is composted. Additionally, Germany today has zero active landfills.

During 2023, the goal of Market staff was to see one-third of all waste recycled, but the organization was able to exceed that and recycle one-half of all waste. According to Republic Services, the Market also saw virtually zero contamination, meaning all bins marked for recycling were able to be recycled.

This year, market staff will be working with RecycleForce to monitor waste streams in real-time and optimize recycling efforts where they can. Staff are also adding more signage to encourage recycling and illustrate what can be fully recycled and what can’t.

“Tourism and RecycleForce are helping us sort through the recycling and also do an assessment so that in the future we can be even more sustainable as we move forward,” Rosenfeld said. “We are so grateful for these grants from Duke Energy and Hamilton County Tourism, and we can’t wait to make more progress on these efforts this coming season.”

According to Rosenfeld, approximately 475,000 people attended Carmel Christkindlmarkt. That has the potential to create a great deal of waste, but efforts this year may reduce it even further by adding a composting component to Christkindlmarkt’s efforts.

“I am greatly appreciative of the support from Duke Energy, Hamilton County Tourism and RecycleForce for all coming together to help us become more sustainable year over year as an organization,” Rosenfeld said. “Last year we started our recycling efforts. This year we’re expanding on it by adding composting for our vendors. With composting, as well as bringing in RecycleForce to see and analyze our waste streams, we can become more sustainable, recycle more, reduce more and reuse more year over year.”

Christkindlmarkt will open for the 2024 season on Saturday, Nov. 23. Learn more about the Carmel Christkindlmarkt online at CarmelChristkindlmarkt.com.