This year marked a major step forward for AGC and WOMADelaide. This year we were determined to improve our diversion from landfill rate from 98% to 99%. Whilst 1% might seem small, it doesn't leave any room for contamination and is a significant result for the event.
Successfully, with operational prowess, we were able to achieve the goal and in fact hit a diversion rate of 99.7%! This means that only 0.3% of waste went to landfill. Working 20 hours a day, the operations team were able to ensure the grounds were clean, bins weren't overflowing and that caterers had the correct waste vessels available to them during the entire festival.
With over 80,000 people attending WOMAD each year, it is a loved festival in Adelaide. With hundreds of international artists, cultural stalls and amazing food outlets flocking to Botanic Park each year in the beautiful summer weather, it is a very popular destination during the festival season.
Many people are aware of the environment goals that the festival has and we can attest to the dedication of all of the Art Projects Australia staff go to to reach these goals.
Each year we ensure we sort all of the waste prior to it being taken off site. This involves auditing and searching through each bin bag to remove any contamination from a waste stream. Additionally this year we completed additional auditing of bins across the festival to measure and record items that were causing contamination. If we did not sort the bins on site, more than 22% of the events waste would have ended up going to landfill.
We love being able to challenge ourselves and meet our clients environmental goals! We look forward to many more events in the future aiming for such inspirational goals!