RefiestaLeicester's Waste Reduction Scheme
In this blog post, we explore RefiestaLeicester's ingenious waste reduction scheme. Importantly, one of the biggest causes of festival waste is food containers, crockery and cutlery. Whilst bio-degradable crockery and cutlery are available they are often too expensive for vendors, this in turn leads to scepticism regarding biodegradability and can result in confusion about reuse.
In response, RefiestaLeicester designed a scheme to cut waste from food stalls. Inspired by the Crock ‘n’ Rock initiative from Green Gathering Festival, RefiestaLeicester collected unwanted, reusable plates and cutlery and recycled them for reuse. RefiestaLeicester scheme is entitled, Crock 'n' Roll.
How Crock ‘n’ Roll system works:
- Food vendors at the festival buy a plate, knife and fork from Refiesta for £1 a set.
- Charge their customers £1 for their food (thus getting their £1 back).
- Customers return plate, knife and fork to the Crock ‘n’ Roll washing-up stall.
- Refiesta volunteers clean their plates and cutlery
- Finally, Customers get £1.
Initially, attendees bought plates and cutlery sets directly from Refiesta and got their money back by returning them. Encouragingly, the food vendors saw the scheme at work and over a short time, the system became easier. Presently, customers will now receive the plates at the beginning of the festival, and therefore, reduce the risk of waste.
RefiestaLeicester's Waste Reduction Scheme
No waste. No new plastic. Everybody wins!
Check out Green Gathering's A Greener Festival Award award win on our previous blog post here.
