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A Greener Festival unveils revamped awards programme

By | Published on Monday 18 January 2016

A Greener Festival

The team behind A Greener Festival have revamped their awards programme, and have introduced associate membership of the organisation to enable wider industry participation.

A Greener Festival, which is now celebrating its tenth anniversary, exists to help and encourage festival operators to run more environmentally friendly events. Its awards scheme isn’t yet another back-slapping bash for music types, but a kite-mark type programme where festivals are assessed on various criteria, and awarded for developing and employing more eco-friendly and sustainable practices.

The awards programme took the 2015 festival season off to review its own operations, and following that review, various changes are now being made. The self-assessment process undertaken by festivals seeking an award will now reflect the requirements of an ‘environmental impact assessment’; repeat applicants will build on initial assessments, rather than submitting new applications each year; and a new formal training programme is being launched for the scheme’s ‘environmental auditors’, who also assess each festival’s operations and practices while the event is in full swing.

Commenting on the evolution of its awards programme, A Greener Festival co-founder Claire O’Neill told reporters: “When A Greener Festival began ten years ago we were trying to raise awareness about how to reduce the environmental impact of festivals. The new process for the awards goes beyond promoting best practice and events successes, but also helps organisers to understand, plan and improve their entire event’s sustainability”.

She adds: “The awards may be more challenging as a result of the additional requirements, but we feel this is coupled with a more valuable service for participants who stand to gain not only recognition for their achievements, but also a framework for understanding, managing and improving the sustainability of their events. The overarching objective is to lower the impact of events, adapt to the changing environment, and raise the skills of the people within the industry to achieve that goal”.

The associate membership scheme will allow both individuals and companies in the festival sector to support and benefit from the A Greener Festival initiative. Successful award applicants will also become associate members of the organisation.



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