Harvest Festival: Tips For A Sustainable Visit
Now in its 15th year, Waterford Harvest Festival returns from September 6 – September 8, 2024, celebrating great food and the people who produce it. Taking place in venues across Waterford City, Harvest Festival promises to be a treat for the senses with food talks, food- making, storytelling, fine dining experiences, fantastic offerings from local restaurants, live music and lots of free family entertainment across the city.
The festival is supported by Waterford City and County Council, which specified that the festival deliver a green, environmentally sustainable event, while minimising food waste and carbon emissions.
Here are tips for visitors to enjoy Harvest Festival in a sustainable way.
Getting There Sustainably
There are several ways to get to Waterford City by public transport.
Bus: All Waterford city bus services stop on The Mall in the centre of the city. See a map of the routes here.
Coming from Dungarvan, the No. 40 Bus Eireann bus stops at Parnell Street and at the bus station. The Dublin Coach 600 service stops outside the Dungarvan Civic Offices at Davitt’s Quay and goes on to the City several times a day.
For Local Link bus routes to and from Waterford City, click here.
Train: Waterford’s Plunkett Station is a 10-minute walk from the centre of the city. The station is the terminus on the Dublin-Waterford line, and is also connected to Limerick Junction via the InterCity line. You can access more station details and see live train updates here.
Refill Your Bottle
An average event with 5000 attendees will produce over 142kg of plastic water bottles.
There are a number of ways to reduce plastic waste at a festival. At Harvest Festival, we will be providing areas where people can refill their water bottle.
Where To Fill Your Bottle:
The Mobile Hydration Station will supply filtered drinking water to the public during Harvest Festival at John Roberts Square. Following the festival, Refill.ie will be providing data for the amount of CO2 and waste saved by using the mobile hydration station.
To find other locations where you can refill your water bottle in the city during Harvest Festival, see here to download the Tap App.
Rinse Your Food Containers
Where To Rinse Your Containers:
There are two rinse stations available for use over the festival weekend. These can be located close to the food vendors to encourage the use of reusable cups and containers and to enable rinsing of reusable cups, containers, etc.
The rinse stations will be located:
Reuse Coffee Cups & Food Bowls
In Ireland we use over 200 million single use cups every year. 2GoCup is a deposit return system for reusable coffee cups and bowls. You pay a €2 deposit for a 2GoCup/€3 for a 2GoBowl and get your deposit back when you return your cup/bowl. Or you can swap your used cup/bowl for a clean one. This allows you to avoid using disposable cups and bowls if you forget to bring your own. You can get and return these cups to any participating café or restaurant.
Where to Buy/Use these Cups/Bowls:
There are currently 21 participating cafes in Co. Waterford. The map here shows some of the participating businesses in the city centre, easily accessible during Harvest Festival.
Visit https://www.2gocup.net/map/ for more information on all participating locations across all of Waterford.
Dispose Of Waste
Composting
Reusable cups and bowls are the best choice for the environment. While there are some recyclable and compostable cups on the market in Ireland, they usually end up in landfill. This is because the mixed recyclables are sorted by machines which cannot differentiate between the various types of single use cups meaning that they potentially end up in the paper stream and cause contamination. Any disposable cup, cutlery, etc. still uses natural resources and promotes an unsustainable throwaway lifestyle. If an item is certified as compostable, it will say so on the side, and can be placed in your brown bin at home; be sure to check the lid because it may not be compostable.
Where to Return Bottles and Cans:
Clean, dry bottles and cans can be dropped off at the Re-turn Bin. The Re-turn Bin will be at Arundel Square, by Cafe Nero, during Harvest Festival, as shown on this map. The deposit generated by these returns will be given to a charity.
