Clare Garden Festival Goes Green Again in 2014

Clare Garden Festival in Ennis went green again in 2014 with a great turnout and many initiatives.

Stop Food Waste and Maintaining your Septic Tank were the 2 main messages at the Environment stand.  Two of the local Master Composters, Maureen and Jean helped out.  Donal O’Leary (Stop Food Waste) and Joan Tarmey (Clare County Council) had a 20 minute slot on the main stage.  The new Stop Food Waste 5 steps sheet was widely distributed.

This year saw the first Pop Up Community garden challenge. Theme was “Protecting the Environment in my garden”.  Prevention and reuse featured very strongly indeed  – rainwater harvesting, novel reuse of drinks bottles as growing containers, a garden seat made from pre-loved fabrics, a 35-year old deck chair that’s making a come back.

See below pictures of the winning gardens: Rineanna Garden, Shannon (1st prize); Nature Garden Garraí Dulra, Kilrush (2nd); and Ennis Horticultural Group (3rd place).

In terms of greening the festival, all stallholders were advised of how to minimise packaging, reuse containers etc ahead of the event.  Segregation levels of recyclables and food waste were good on the day with 76.1% of waste diverted from landfill.  The level of waste generated per visitor was relatively low at 0.05 Kgs/visitor – a very successful event.

Photos below, click to enlarge:

For more information about this event contact 

Joan Tarmey, Clare County Council

Tel: 065 6846205

Email: jtarmey@clarecoco.ie

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