A greener festival

Our commitment to the environment

Working with the Business Environment Partnership, the Book Festival arranged for an evaluator to spend eight weeks at the Book Festival in 2007 to complete an environmental audit for both the year round organisation and the temporary site in Charlotte Square Gardens. The focus of the audit was energy consumption and management, procurement policy, materials and waste management and the dissemination of environmental information. From this report we have now created the Book Festival's Environmental Policy and have set out a five year plan towards reducing our impact on the environment.

Steps are also being taken with other Edinburgh Festivals to develop a cohesive environmental standard across the industry. Edinburgh's leading arts festivals will soon sign up to the same environmental policy, details of which will be posted here shortly.

In the Book Festival office we have appointed a Green Champion who feeds back to the rest of our staff on the latest environmental practices and thinking. Our office recycles paper/cardboard, plastic bottles, cans and organic waste. We now use tap water instead of a water cooler and always purchase biodegradable and recycled products where possible. The majority of staff members either walk or take public transport to work every day. So we're trying to do our bit!

We are extremely aware of the Book Festival's responsibility as a forum for discussion to bring environmental concerns and the climate change debate to a wider public. We have led the way over the past few years on environmental matters, from informing and inspiring our audiences to putting our own environmental policies into effect. We will continue to build on our achievements made to date.

 

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