ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY

FESTIVALIFE LTD.
Aylin McNamara

February 2007

 

RECYCLING, COMPOSTING and REFUSE

  1. Sunrise Celebration aims to significantly reduce the amount of waste that would otherwise go to landfill.
  2. Initiatives will be underway to encourage recycling, composting and reuse of rubbish. These include initiatives aimed at attendees, traders and crew.
  3. We are committed to recycling and a large number of recycling points will be made available to the public and traders.  These include separate paper, plastic, metal and glass bins.
  4. Sunrise Celebration are aiming to compost all food waste material from attendees, traders and crew. This will be further encouraged through our compostable disposables scheme and distribution of composting bags.
  5. All traders must dispense their food and drinks in Sunrise Certified Compostable Packaging. 
  6. Attendees will be provided with cigarette butt dispensers, waste and recycling bags on entrance to site.
  7. Glass will not be permitted on site due health, safety and animal welfare concerns.
  8. Waste will be removed from site daily by our rubbish collectors, litter pickers, recycling team and composting team.
  9. The Sunrise Celebration aims to have year on year improvements in waste reduction.

 

WATER

  1. All efforts will be made to reduce water consumption by using water saving taps and monitoring system for any leaks.
  2. Water fountains will be placed at regular intervals around the site with special attention paid to dance areas. This will reduce the amount of waste from plastic water bottles.
  3. All waste water will be disposed of safely away from water courses.
  4. The amount of waste water from the event will be reduced through the use of compost toilets. These do not require water unlike their more conventional alternative.
  5. Water consumption levels for the whole of the event will be recorded as a part of our sustainability appraisal.

 

TRANSPORT

  1. Sunrise Celebration aims reduce the environmental impact caused by attendees and crew travelling to the site. This will be done through an awareness raising campaign. Car sharing and the use of public transport will be encouraged.
  2. Attendees will be discouraged from travelling by car by applying parking charges.
  3. Transport on site will be limited, especially during the event.
  4. Vehicle movement will be limited to specific lanes at all times to reduce soils damage.
  5. On site transport of people, goods, equipment, waste will be done using horse-drawn carts, renewably charged electric vehicles, bicycles, rickshaws and bio-diesel vehicles.
  6. Heavy vehicles will be asked to reduce their tyre pressure whilst driving across site to minimise damage to soil.

 

TOILETS

  1. Sunrise Celebration will be using compost toilets instead of chemical portaloos on site.
  2. Initiatives will be set up to encourage the design and development of various types of compost toilets on site.
  3. All efforts will be made to ensure that compost toilets are made from waste timber.
  4. Compost toilets trenches will be backfilled and turfs re-laid after the event.
  5. Hay urinals will be present to reduce the liquid content of compost toilets and reduce user pressure.
  6. We will provide only natural soaps and recycled, unbleached toilet paper for our composting toilets and hay urinals.

 

POLLUTION PREVENTION and HAZARDOUS MATERIALS

  1. The use of pollutants on site will be minimised through our renewable energy and other environmental policies.
  2. An audit of all potentially polluting and environmentally hazardous materials will be made.
  3. All environmentally hazardous materials (e.g. Bio-diesel) will be kept in secure containers outside public areas, away from water courses and will only be handled by designated contractors and authorised personnel.
  4. There will be a system of reporting and dealing with incidents of pollution and spillages. An Environmental Emergency Team will be on standby and contactable at all times during the event to deal with any such incidents.
  5. Attendees are encouraged to not use chemical cleaners, soaps etc. on site, and only natural phosphate free alternatives will be available to use or to buy.
  6. Crew and caterers must use chemical free / environmentally friendly cleaning products.  Other products are prohibited.

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FOOD and MARKETS

  1. There is a site-wide organic policy for food and drinks, including alcohol.
  2. All suppliers of consumable goods are expected to achieve a minimum of 80% Organic content in their ingredients.
  3. Traders are encouraged to use local suppliers for all possible consumables. This will minimise the environmental cost of transporting these goods.
  4. A list of recommended local organic suppliers will be compiled and information will be distributed to all traders in advance as well as onsite deliveries of local organic products.
  5. Efforts will be made to make sure that only ethical products are available on site.
  6. Priority will be given to traders with green credentials.

 

ENERGY

  1. There is a site wide renewable energy policy. All energy requirements throughout the life-cycle of the event will be supplied by renewable energy.
  2. Sunrise Celebration has a long term plan to increase the use of non-consumptive renewable energy generators including solar and wind power generators at each event.
  3. Energy consumption is a major issue and the event will make all efforts to reduce its energy consumption rates.
  4. Energy consumption levels will be monitored and recorded as part of our sustainability appraisal.
  5. Information, demonstrations and products displayed and for sale will be available for attendees to learn about the wide range of new energy efficient and energy generating technologies available.

 

FIRES

  1. All efforts will be made to reduce the environmental damage caused by fires at the event.
  2. Firepits will be designates and designed so that turfs can be re-laid and watered after the event.
  3. Wood from fires will be sourced locally and preferably from sustainably managed woodlands or as waste timber.
  4. The central communal fire space will be managed by a dedicated Fire-Keeper.  

 

EDUCATION

  1. Environmental education will be an important focus for the Sunrise Celebration. Innovative ways of sharing information, raising awareness and inspiring people to live more sustainably will form a major part of this event.
  2. Environmental education will be achieved through talks, presentations, workshops, discussion groups, campaign groups, displays, films, art and the presence of innovations on site.
  3. We are dedicated to providing environmental education by example. Having a strong environmental ethos and policies is invaluable if we are to set a good example for others to follow. 
  4. We are committed to provide and environmental education to local school children through our Community Outreach Programme

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CARBON EMISSIONS

  1. We will be calculating the carbon footprint for the whole of the event in 2007
  2. A top priority is to reduce carbon emissions and initiatives will be underway to achieve this aim.
  3. Each year we will further reduce our carbon emissions.
  4. A carbon offsetting scheme will be developed to cover unavoidable carbon emissions.
  5. We have a long term plan to achieve carbon neutrality in coming events.
  6. We are committed to raise awareness of the need to reduce CO2 emissions.

 

ENFORCEMENT OF POLICIES

  1. A team of Eco-Rangers will be on site to make sure that environmental policies are being adhered to and to report any problems.
  2. The Eco-Rangers will monitor the environmental status of the event and record environmental indicators as a part of the Sustainability Appraisal.
  3. The Eco-Rangers will make checks on traders/crew and be present in all areas of the festival to make sure that attendees are not carrying out environmentally damaging activities.
  4. An Eco-Bond will be required from all traders before admission to the site. This will be returned once it is clear that environmental policy standards have been adhered to. A number of checks will be made by the Eco-Rangers before deposits are returned.

 

LONG TERM PLANNING and ENVIRONMENTAL IMPROVEMENTS

  1. We are committed, through our long term plan, to further reduce our environmental impact and improve our environmental standards each year
  2. A Sustainability Appraisal will be undertaken each year to calculate our environmental footprint. This will inform our long term plan by identifying areas where improvements can be made and will test the sustainability of each event.
  3. We aim to develop clear targets for environmental standards against which we can measure the effectiveness of our environmental policies.
  4. A major policy objective is to reduce energy and water consumption and waste production. We are committed to improving our reduction standards and this will form a large part of our long term planning strategy.
  5. Family Gathering Ltd. is also committed to establishing a trust fund dedicated to long term projects such as land stewarding, sustainable community projects and education.

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