Hometown Heroes - 2009 Finalist: London Green Festival

2009 Finalist

London Green Festival - London, Ontario

It’s a Fact

The London Green Festival Team promoted environmental responsibility to over 450 000 visitors during the 2008 London festival season.

The London Green Festival Team formed to make a positive environmental impact on London’s 2008 summer festivals, Volunteers from the largest outdoor summer events--Sunfest (220 000 visitors), the Home County Folk Festival (100 000 visitors) and Ribfest (150 000 visitors)--and officials from the City of London established the goals for the group. The goals were to

Reduce the amount of waste going into landfills
Establish best practices for waste management
Create benchmarks for all community festivals and events
Raise environmental awareness in the community
Encourage all residents to adopt best practices for waste management at home.

A key challenge to the London Green Festival Team was that festivals offer free admission, where visitors are unrestricted and free to stroll through festivals and into the downtown core.As a result, the environmental impact of these events expanded well beyond main festival grounds.

The Team addressed this challenge from operational and marketing perspectives. First, they established a simple and convenient recycling and composting system.Second, realizing they were not be ‘preaching to the converted’, the Team trained hundreds of volunteers on waste management, who in turn trained over 450 000 festival goers.

Accomplishments of the 2008 festival season include

A 50% overall waste diversion rate from landfills (compared to less than 5% in 2007)
Composting or recycling 21 tonnes of materials
Promoting waste reduction through a Bring Your Own (water bottle, mug, dish, cutlery) initiative and offering a free on-site dish washing service
Local and regional media coverage promoting environmental responsibility
Collaborating with the City of London to bring back water fountains in Victoria Park and developing a portable water fill station for the festival season
Encouraging food vendors to purchase compostable food packaging
Additional festivals adopting the London Green Festival Team best practices for their events.

Perhaps the most significant accomplishment of the London Green Festival Team is the leadership role they played in the community. Inspired, and encouraged, by what visitors saw during the 2008 festival season, many Londoners took the ‘waste-free’ concept home to their own neighbourhood and family celebrations.

Chances are if you’re in London during the 2009 festival season, you’ll see the heroics of the London Green Festival Team firsthand. The Team has grown from representing three festivals to eight large-scale events in the region.

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