The 2013 Great Limerick Run & Riverfest Limerick events will go green next weekend (May 3rd, 6th, 2013).
Many different initiatives are being put in place to minimise the environmental impact of these two great Limerick events by The Regional Waste Management Office (RWMO) for Limerick Clare Kerry, the Environment Section of Limerick City Council, Stop Food Waste (SFW) and Clean Ireland Recycling. The run itself generates over 70,000 plastic bottles, tonnes of cardboard and plastic film as well as thousands of banana skins so well done to the event organisers who have come on board.
Why not head to Limerick this bank holiday weekend and…
- Light Riverfest BBQ will fire up at 11am on Saturday, May 4th on Denmark Street, Market Quarter. An amateur competition, the day long event will host three different cooking categories based on flavour, texture and presentation. See up to 100 teams take part in this fun event and try out some free samples of delectable treats.
Visit the RWMO Food Waste Prevention Stand at this event where we launch the -5kg challenge, encourage householders to take an Eco Pledge & distribute food portion tools.
- Check out the Waste Prevention stand at Great Limerick Run Expo in UL Sports Arena – Saturday 2-4pm.
- Use the segregated waste stations throughout the continental market.
- Use the special recycling bins in the city centre and along the 10km race route.
- Use public transport or car share to & from the event.
- Buying a coffee, a bar of chocolate or an energy boosting banana? Look out for the Fair Trade logo & purchase from these stores.
- Where possible buy local or Irish goods to support the local economy.
- Going shopping before or after the event? Avoid unnecessary packaging & always bring a reusable bag no matter what you intend purchasing.
For more information on the greening of these events contact:
Pauline McDonogh, Limerick Clare Kerry Regional Waste Management Office
Email: pmcdonogh@managewaste.ie
Tel: 087 2755538; 061 496844
Some photos of the greening of Riverfest this year (volunteers raising awareness, well done everybody it was a great success) (click to enlarge):
Limerick City Council is Celebrating Earth Day, 22nd of April with a Workshop Cultivating Living Working Communities
This full day workshop will explore how we can nurture our communities to be healthier and more resilient and backed by local economies.
The workshop is designed to build the capacity of people already working to improve quality of life in their communities. If you are active in the development of your community, involved in community enterprises, want to support local producers or are engaged in making your community a better place to live, this workshop will be of interest.
Download more details here: Cultivating Living Working Communities Workshop (27 Kb)
Prior Booking is essential – Phone Sinead on 407195 or email: smcdonnell@limerickcity.ie
Limerick’s Elemental Arts and Culture Festival has made the move to green the event this year and so, in association with City Centre Tidy towns, has taken a ‘tree pledge’ to offprint their carbon footprint.
Event organisers recently planted 30 trees to this effect, at the ‘urban forest’ in Corbally. “The trees are intended to provide an ongoing legacy and we intend to make the Tree Pledge a regular part of the festival” according to Alan Hogan, co-founder.
The trees: hornbeams, hazel and bitch were sourced locally from Dromcollogher Organic College.
Picture (above, click to enlarge) shows Jennifer Allen & Jim McNamara of the event at the planting.
Elemental Arts & Culture Festival 2013 is a three-day event, taking place from Friday 13th September to Sunday 15th September 2013 in Limerick City. It will include puppetry, music, short films screening by Behind the Scenes, site specific theatre work, Forgotten Skills at the Hunt Museum, eco-workshops, street performers, to name just some.
Elemental has committed to work closely with Limerick Clare Kerry Regional Waste management Office, under the Green Your Festival Programme of the LAPN, & Limerick City Council to reduce its impact in 2013 and subsequent years.
For more about the Greening of Elemental click here.
Website: http://elementallimerick.com/
Blog: http://elementalartsandculture.wordpress.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ElementalLmk
Fleadh Cheoil na Mumhan 2013 will be hosted for the first time by Castletroy CCÉ in the University of Limerick. Munster Fleadh 2013 promises to be a unique Munster Fleadh as it will be the first time it will be held in an enclosed campus environment. The organising committee headed up by Cathaoirleach na Fleidhe Niall Keegan and Runaí na Fleidhe Majella Bartley are working hard to organise an action-packed programme of events for the Fleadh. These will include a wide selection of outdoor and indoor concerts, céilithe, workshops, competitions, and street sessions.
The organising committee for the Fleadh are working closely with the Limerick, Clare, Kerry Regional Waste Management Office to green the event. Planned activities include:
- Source Segregation & prevention of waste
- The use of a uniquely designed App to keep participants informed of ways they can help green the event
- Eco-pledges
- The promotion of tap water
- Energy & water conservation measures in the campus accommodation
- A Shuttle bus around the campus as well as the promotion of smarter travel.
It is anticipated that the event will attract up to 12,000 people, 3000 of which will be competing so its a big challenge to green the fleadh but everyone involved is willing to give it a go.
Website: http://www.munsterfleadh.ie/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/MunsterFleadh2013/284884174960657?fref=ts
Twitter: https://twitter.com/fleadhnamumhan
For more information on the greening of this event contact:
Pauline McDonogh, Limerick Clare Kerry Regional Waste Management Office
Email: pmcdonogh@managewaste.ie
Tel: 087 2755538; 061 496844
Elemental Arts & Culture Festival 2013, a three-day event, taking place from Friday 13th September to Sunday 15th September 2013 in Limerick City. It will include puppetry, music, short films screening by Behind the Scenes, site specific theatre work, Forgotten Skills at the Hunt Museum, eco-workshops, street performers, to name just some.
Elemental has committed to work closely with Limerick Clare Kerry Regional Waste management Office, under the Green Your Festival Programme of the LAPN, & Limerick City Council to reduce its impact in 2013 and subsequent years.
The Festival has signed a Green Charter: “We, the Elemental Festival Team, are committed to protecting and enhancing our environment. To this end, we are actively promoting the use of cleaner transport options, litter minimisation and segregation, upcycling, reducing water and energy usage and sourcing sustainable materials. Our tree pledge commits us to planting native broadleaf trees in the Limerick area each year as a tangible way of enhancing our environment. Further to the ethos of Elemental, we are committed to promoting Fairtrade and organic wherever possible to highlight how wise local decisions can have a positive global impact. Components of the festival schedule are deliberately designed to promote sustainability and biodiversity in a fun, inclusive way.”
More information about Elemental 2013 will be posted on www.greenyourfestival.ie in the coming months. See also:
Website: http://elementallimerick.com/
Blog: http://elementalartsandculture.wordpress.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ElementalLmk
The Knights of Westfest, now in it’s third year has established itself as a truly unique Irish festival, set amid the backdrop of the amazing Desmond Castle in the largest town in the County Limerick, Newcastle West.
It takes place from the 11th-15th September 2013.
Great music, food, entertainment, fashion, craft …and a little bit of magic!
The ‘Taste of WestFest’ is a two-day food fair which brings everything from live cooking demonstrations and teddy bears’ picnics to demos and exhibitions from artisan producers from across the country.
The Knights of Westfest comprises:
- Limerick for The Gathering 2013 Music Festival
- Street Entertainment
- Knights of Desmond Family Funday
- All Ireland Donkey Derby
- Taste of Westfest
Work already underway with the organising committee to make the event cleaner & greener in 2013. Targets for this year include:
- Preventing waste at the food festival & family events
- Promoting the use of compostable & reusable crockery, glasses etc
- Better segregation of waste
- Water conservation for permanent facilities such as cafes, restaurants & bars in the Square Newcastle West
- Sustainable transport to & from the festival
Further information about the Greening of The Knights of Westfest will be available on www.greenyourfestival.ie this year. See also:
Website: http://www.theknightsofwestfest.com/info/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Knights-Of-WestFest/157422900987625
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NCWWestfest
The Great Limerick Run 2013 is going green! Scheduled for May 5th 2013, this event will see 10,000 runners take to the streets of Limerick cheered on by 30,000 spectators. Greening the run will focus on preventing waste, using compostable disposable products, encouraging smarter travel to and from the event, choosing tap water to prevent waste and encouraging healthy eating and the prevention of food waste during the training period before the run. This initiative is part of the Green Your Festival progamme of LAPN.
From early January there will be a newly created page on the website: www.greatlimerickrun.com with greening tips for all runners and supporters. Other complementary events to the Great Limerick Run will include greening the Run Expo which will be held at the University Arena on 3rd and 4th of May and the Children’s run also at the Arena on May 4th.
For more information on The Green Your Festival Programme all over Ireland go to www.greenyourfestival.ie
For more information about greening the Great Limerick Run contact:
Pauline McDonogh, Limerick Clare Kerry Regional Waste Management Office
Email: pmcdonogh@managewaste.ie
Tel: 087 2755538; 061 496844
Limerick City Council and the Limerick Clare Kerry Regional Waste Management Office have been working with a housing estate in the city to raise awareness about household hazardous waste & to see how difficult it would be to get residents to switch some of their products to more environmentally friendly options.
The project involved awareness raising and training of householders about how to reduce their consumption of hazardous materials and the prevention of subsequent waste, by using more environmentally friendly cleaning options in the home.
Limerick City Council and the Limerick Clare Kerry Regional Waste Management Office used their household hazardous waste guide as a springboard for this work.
The project was facilitated by a Tidy Towns committee and Limerick City Council now plans to roll it out to as many Tidy Town groups as they can in 2013.
The Regional Waste Management Office (RWMO) of Limerick Clare Kerry was active during the European Week of Waste Reduction (EWWR).
RWMO carried out several events of events for EWWR, including the promotion of food waste prevention.
RWMO developed a new leaflet using info from Stop Food Waste but with new imagery depicting rotten food presented as a special offer – with the hope that it will generate some debate about how much food we buy but don’t consume.
The imagery from the leaflet is also running as an advert in four regional papers. Three supermarkets have agreed to information stands next week to promote awareness of the campaign - Tesco and two Supervalu’s.
RWMO are also hoping to use the leaflet as part of a Christmas waste prevention campaign.
Limerick Clare Kerry Regional Waste Management Office as set up an Eco Pledge Programme for people to make a pledge to improve their environmental behaviour.
Sometimes we feel overwhelmed by environmental issues and helpless to do anything about it. The Eco Pledge system makes it easy, people can choose an action that they can easily do and take the Eco-Pledge. Small changes in behaviour can have a huge impact when combined with thousands of like-minded people.
Pledges can be made to:
- Choose Tap Water
- Say no to paper bags
- Make a shopping list and stick to it
- Use both sides of the page
- Invest in rechargable batteries
- Repair and customize you clothes
- Say no to junk mail
- Choose less packaging
- Re-use Stuff
- Raise Awareness
Click here to make a pledge (or four)
LCK RWMO have also made a brilliant video showing how the pledge can work in reality, with students from Crescent College on the streets of Limerick – check it out!
