Sing When You’re Greening - How Wexford Festival is Becoming Green

(Friday, 27 August 2010) Wexford Festival Opera, in conjunction with the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Waste Prevention Programme have undertaken a joint project to create one of the first environmentally friendly festivals of its type in Ireland. Wexford Festival Opera Business Development Manager, Eamonn Carroll said, “For many years, the Festival Opera has been a major event in Wexford, bringing in excess of 30,000 visitors to the area. We feel it’s about time, with the help of the EPA, to try and make the Festival, as well as the community supporting it, more sustainable.”

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(Friday, 27 August 2010) Wexford Festival Opera, in conjunction with the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Waste Prevention Programme have undertaken a joint project to create one of the first environmentally friendly festivals of its type in Ireland. Wexford Festival Opera Business Development Manager, Eamonn Carroll said, “For many years, the Festival Opera has been a major event in Wexford, bringing in excess of 30,000 visitors to the area. We feel it’s about time, with the help of the EPA, to try and make the Festival, as well as the community supporting it, more sustainable.”

A green programme has been developed involving businesses from all sectors, who supply goods and services to the festival, striving to achieve a green accreditation, either the Green Hospitality Eco-label or the Econcertive “Eco-cert”. The process not only reduces the environmental impact of the Festival Opera, by having it’s participant businesses reduce water and energy use, and cutting waste produced, but these measures can save significant amounts of money for the businesses as well.

It is hoped that through this project, Wexford can move towards becoming a green destination and promote itself as being more sustainable for future visitors and businesses. To date, more than 30 businesses around County Wexford having signed up to the green programme. A list of all members can be found by visiting http://www.wexfordopera.com/green.  The participating businesses will also be highlighted in a “Green Trail” published in the Festival Week itself, inviting visitors to support the project and make their own Opera Experience a more environmentally friendly one.

During the Festival, Foodies may like to try some of the “Green Dishes” produced by project participants, utilising local, seasonal produce and designed to minimise waste. Please keep an eye on the website for more details.

It is well known locally that the success of Wexford Festival Opera is due, in no small part, to the wonderful group of Volunteers involved.  So, needless to say, they have also been asked to play their part, by participating in An Taisce’s Green Home Programme. This Programme will help the Volunteers to find out how they can make their homes greener by reducing water usage, waste generation and energy consumption, and also save money on their household bills.

Of course, visitors to Wexford, residents of Wexford, and employees of Wexford’s green businesses are also invited to participate in the Green Home Programme. Joining is simple and most importantly it’s FREE.  Just log onto http://www.greenhome.ie and click ‘Join In’.  To help us monitor participation in Wexford we ask that you choose the ‘Wexford Festival Opera’ group when registering.

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