In what may well turn out to be the final event of our Roadshow for this year, we were fortunate enough to be invited to participate in Youghal’s first ever Zero Waste Festival on Saturday, 1st of October. Created and developed by Youghal Blue and Green Network along with VOICE and with the support of Cork County Council, this first-of-its-kind festival in Youghal took place on the grounds of Youghal GAA club on a beautifully warm, late Autumn day.
Developed with the community in mind, there was a mixture of entertainment and education (of the enjoyable kind!) for all throughout the day. The bouncy castle sat across from a semi-circle of chairs which played host to lively bouts of drumming workshops. Next to that was Ulick from Bike Wizards, who was kept busy all day showing lots of little people how to keep their bikes rolling and in tip-top condition.
In further efforts to reduce both waste and costs, the marquee played host to displays of easy home compost solutions as well as a cooking demo which showed how to make delicious use of yesterday’s food which might otherwise get thrown away. Organic waste caddies were there for all, along with waste segregation workshops. Seapink Vintage were there too, running a swap shop for attendees’ pre-loved clothes.
And last but not least, was the Return for Change campaign with our wonderful trailer. If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it probably a dozen times (on these pages!): it doesn’t matter where you go in the country or who you talk to – everyone thinks the deposit return scheme is a great idea and something they want to see operational, sooner rather than later. And so it proved in Youghal, too. We were delighted to add our own little ingredient into what was a delectable concoction of flavours and tastes, all in the service of spreading the message of zero waste. May this Zero Waste Festival be the first of many in Youghal.
