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Panda has pledged that this year’s Electric Picnic will see zero waste going to landfill and 100% of waste collected will be recovered through recycling or energy generation after agreeing a new joint venture with festival organisers to combat waste at this year’s festival.
Having already successfully deployed this strategy last year at Electric Picnic and at some of the summer’s other big festivals, Panda is looking to capitalise on a changing attitude towards waste to help reduce the overall environmental impact of the festival.
Panda will use a three bin system and will provide over 350 recycling, general waste & compost bins and 3 waste compactors to ensure that festival goers can enjoy the festival knowing that their waste is being recycled or recovered for energy.
Key to the success of Panda’s strategy will be the conscious effort by festival goers to dispose of their waste in the correct bins provided onsite at this year’s festival.
Using the facilities onsite, festival goers can expect their food waste to be converted into electricity, disposed bottles and cans to be recycled and their un-recyclable materials to be processed into a low carbon fuel.
Residual waste will be processed through Panda’s solid recovered fuel (SRF) process to produce a fuel that can be used in manufacturing as an alternative to fossil fuels, ensuring waste is put to good use a secondary resource and reducing carbon emissions.
Panda will also deploy 15 dedicated vehicles to manage the transport of waste to its facilities in Tipperary, Meath and Dublin.
Speaking ahead of this year’s festival, Des Crinion, Managing Director, Panda Recycling Division said: “We’ve seen a change in the public’s behaviour towards waste in recent years as a result of the increased focus on climate change and calls for positive action.
“Our business is built on eliminating waste and ensuring environmental sustainability through recycling and energy recovery.
“Just this year we offered to recycle all election posters from the local and European elections for free, with the materials from these being used to manufacture fruit and vegetable trays.
“We want to expand that strategy into as many aspects of society as possible so with that in mind, this joint venture is an opportunity for us to do our part to allow festival goers enjoy themselves while also having the resources available to do so in an environmentally sensible way.
“Whilst our strategy at last year’s festival was a huge success, we want to continue encouraging people to be proactive and pledge to make sure we maintain that figure this year.”
At this year’s festival, Panda will also have a stand in the arena featuring an interactive game, where festival goers can learn more about the sustainable journey of their waste.
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