The city plans to roll out a trailer that makes hosting environmentally conscious festivals easier by next summer.
City engineer Peter Judd is mulling lower event permit fees for festivals that recycle, compost and provide secure bicycle parking.
It’s welcome news for Shafin Virji who has worked to make the World Partnership and Ismaili walks greener.
“Obviously, we’re doing a charity event and there’re a lot of questions that come up saying why are we spending so much [$3,000 to buy compostable dishes, cutlery, napkins and cups]… and I have to convince them all the time that this is the right thing to do,” Virji said. “So if there is an incentive there it’s a much easier sell.”
He’d like the city to require festivals to use compostable dishes and utensils.
The World Partnership Walk, sponsored by the Aga Khan Foundation, raises funds to alleviate global poverty. September’s annual Ismaili Walk will raise money for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of B.C. and Yukon.
The organizers of the walks started reducing waste three years ago. They found a certified facility to compost and recycle waste, distributed compostable dishes, hired a company to haul redirected waste, discouraged unnecessary food packaging, set up bins and signs for garbage, recycling and compost and staffed the stations with volunteers.
The walks redirect about 60 per cent of their waste from the landfill, and Virji estimates that amount could be 80 per cent if people chose the appropriate bins.
Read more: Vancouver city hall seeks to green festivals.
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