Each year, during that magical weekend in July, the festival starts on Friday evening and goes through Sunday afternoon. The crowd gathers to hear musicians from around the world, while behind the scenes, volunteers are scouring the festival for recyclable plastic and metal containers. Near every trash barrel there is a second container for recyclables.

Volunteers cover the large area of the festival, gathering the contents of the recycling bins. But they don't stop there. Trash barrels are also emptied onto a sorting table and more recyclable containers are rescued from the trash.

The composting program takes over once the recyclables are recovered. Almost all the food vendors use biodegradable utensils and plates. When the contents of the trash bags are examined, most of the material can be diverted to Lowell's composting facility. Plastic straws and aluminum foil end up back in a trash bin, but food scraps -- fruits, vegetables even fish and meat scraps -- can be composted along with used napkins, paper plates and

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biodegradable utensils. Home composters should avoid meat, fish, bones, dairy products and fats, which may attract pests.

In the eight years since the program started, "200,124 containers were collected and recycled, 235,000 meals were composted and 14,000 bags of matured compost were given away," said Pat Scanlon, chief organizer of the recycling and composting program. Pat recruits volunteers to work at the Lowell Folk Festival, and some folks have so much fun they come back every year.

This year's festival will be run from July 25 through July 27. If you're interested in learning more or volunteering, take a look at the Web site at http://lowellfolkfestival.org/

Mary Delahanty is a Lowell Folk Festival recycling volunteer.