First university zero waste festival a success at Trinity
Posted on: 31 January 2020
Over 3,000 people attended the first zero waste festival to take place in a university in Ireland last weekend, the 25-26 of January. The event was hosted by Trinity in conjunction with Zero Waste Festival Ireland at Trinity’s Science Gallery.
There were talks, stalls and a clothing swap shop that saw visitors re-homing around 900 pieces of clothing. The packed talks on topics such as “green” laboratories and zero waste living in Dublin were highlights of the weekend. Precious Plastic’s stall drew a significant crowd – they are a community initiative collecting waste plastic to recycle locally into new products here in Dublin. The popular Zero Waste Living stall gave tips on sustainable upgrades and personal recommendations to cut down on single-use items in day to day life.
Our campus sustainability Adviser Michele Hallahan says
I’m thrilled that we empowered people to eliminate/ reduce some of their sources of waste by attending the talks and workshops and meeting zero waste vendors. The goal of all this is to reduce pollution on the planet and minimise resource consumption, we have no time to waste.
Festival organiser and post-doctoral researcher Jan Knappe adds:
This was, by far, our most successful in terms of visitors, public engagement and even the number of clothes saved from landfill. The festival wouldn’t have been possible without the support of the Science Gallery, the Green Campus Committee at Trinity and the more than 70 volunteers who gave their time over the weekend (including) our guest speakers from Trinity, NUIG, UCD and DCU.
If you are interested in similar events, check out Trinity’s Green Week which is coming up soon. From 17-21 February, we will be hosting events and talks around the theme “Food and its Impact on Climate Change.” Over 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted each year across the globe. This year’s green week will explore what we love about food and how we are unknowingly contributing to climate change through the choices we make about the foods we eat.
For more information on Green Week as well as Trinity’s progress and goals regarding sustainability, check out www.tcd.ie/provost/sustainability