Doing our bit for the Environment

The Christchurch Food Festival is organised by Real Food Festivals and while we recognise that major events such as this can have a huge impact on the local, regional and global environment our goal is always to minimise the environmental impact of all that we do. This means that we have a set of guidelines that we aim to work to but we need your support.

NO SINGLE-USE PLASTICS
From 2020, single-use plastic drinks bottles will not be sold anywhere within the Festival.

CUTLERY & TABLEWARE
We only allow compostable or reusable plates and cutlery – including drinking straws. All cutlery used by food stalls must be made from FSC-assured wood.

NO SAUCE SACHETS
Disposable single-serving sachets, like those used for sauces or sugar will not be available.

REUSABLE CUPS
Throughout the festival we will be providing reusable cups for alcoholic, non-alcoholic and hot drinks. You will need to pay a deposit which you get back when you return your cup, so that we can wash and re-use them again.

TRANSPORT
This is always a very busy weekend for Christchurch Town Centre and driving to the festival is generally a very bad idea. There is very limited parking and the average speed of traffic slows to a crawl. We are working with Yellow Buses to create a transport strategy to help and support as many visitors as possible to use other means than a car to travel to and from the festival.

POWER
We are not allowing traders to bring their own generators as we will be providing power to stall holders where required in an effort to improve overall operational efficiency.

WASTE POLICY
We will work tirelessly both with our contractors and traders and internally to ensure that as much of the waste that we generate is recycled. General waste will be checked for recyclable material, and remaining waste will be diverted from landfill. We always strive for 100% diversion from Landfill.

MRFs (Material Recovery Facility) – All rubbish taken to a MRF will be mechanically sorted so that separate materials can then be sent on to be recycled. This is most effective when applied to dry Mixed Recyclables, though can also be applied to Mixed Waste.

EFW (Energy from Waste) – All rubbish classed as General Waste will be taken to an EfW incinerator. This is the most effective way of making use of non-recyclable waste and offers a sustainable solution to waste disposal. These facilities generate power for tens of thousands of homes nationwide.

Food Waste (Anaerobic Digestion) – This is recognized as the most environmentally friendly and cost-effective way to dispose of food waste. Treating food waste with anaerobic bacteria creates fertilizer which is sent to farms, and the biogas is used to electricity.