Environmental Policy

At Lantern, many of our festivals and events are hosted in beautiful buildings and scenic outdoor spaces and we are aware of our duty of care towards these settings. We have introduced initiatives to be as sustainable as possible and to leave no trace.

Built on a belief that live experiences should exceed expectations, Lantern develops events designed to bring audiences together and create lasting memories.

Some of these initiatives include:

• With our cup deposit return scheme, we have succeeded in eliminating single use plastics from our events and festivals. We are the first events company in the South East to introduce this scheme. By eliminating single use plastic pint glasses, drinking glasses, straws and cup holders we avoid approximately 160,000 single use plastics going into landfill annually.
• We implement strict waste management systems at events, including cigarette disposal units.
• Our ticketing system is paper free. No need to print, tickets can be scanned from a phone.
• The use of public transport is encouraged when travelling to and from our events.
• We source only organic certified cottons and products when purchasing festival and event gear.
• Any courtesy vehicles provided by our motoring partner are electric.
• To adhere to fire safety code, seating must be tied together. We only use reusable velcro ties as opposed to plastic cable ties.
• For temporary venues, we only provide ‘posh-loos’ as opposed to port-a-loos that use harmful chemicals.
• LED lighting is used, which uses significantly less electricity than traditional lighting and is much lighter and smaller, so less transport costs (less diesel and miles).
• Retrofits – existing traditional lights are retrofitted to LED where possible, thus reusing the casing of the original lights (only possible for certain lights).
• Recyclable materials – specified for all seating and flight cases.
• At Wexford Spiegeltent Festival, the Fortuna Spiegeltent is our most sustainable asset of all. Operating as a touring venue since 1928, this original Spiegeltent has hosted the world’s great cabaret artists, musicians, comedians and burlesque performers, and continues to do so.

We encourage our audience to be more aware of the unnecessary waste generated at events and to support and get involved in our environmental initiatives. We promote the points outlined above, such as noting the appropriate disposal units provided, the utilisation of public transport and carpooling in order to reduce our carbon footprint. Every small step makes a big difference and we encourage everyone to get involved.

At our events where there are vendors present, the following Green Policy is part of the terms of contract:

• All stallholders must minimise waste and reduce water and energy consumption where possible.
• Food waste should be segregated into compost bins.
• Where possible, eco-friendly packaging must be used.
• No single use plastics, such as straws, and cups are permitted and single use condiments such as ketchup packets, sugar, salt, butter, jam, etc. must be limited.
• Eco-friendly cleaning products must be used.

Of course we are always looking for ways to improve, so should you have any input on how we can improve our sustainability, please do not hesitate to get in touch at info@lantern.ie.