Diwali festival events vow to go green

by LAUREN CODLING

MAJOR UK events celebrating festivals are making efforts to ensure they are eco-friendly and green, organisers have promised.

This month, preparations are in place for festivities across the UK as Hindus, Jains and Sikhs celebrate Diwali next week. However, as pressure builds on large businesses and the government to take environmental concerns seriously, questions arise as to how event organisers will reduce the level of plastic waste and take care of the local surroundings as the festival season approaches.

Large Diwali events are due to take place in London, Leicester and Birmingham.

In Leicester, the annual Diwali festivities will be held along Belgrave Road, the heart of the city’s Asian community, during October. Earlier this month, the so-called Golden Mile was filled with thousands of onlookers as they watched the switching on of Diwali illuminations.

On the city’s annual Diwali Day on Sunday (27), guests can enjoy a fireworks display, musical performances, food stalls and Bollywood dance shows.

Maggie Shutt MBE, event manager at Leicester City Council, told Eastern Eye about the steps the council was taking to ensure that the proceedings were environment friendly.

She noted that all organics, mainly food waste, were sent to the Wanlip Anaerobic Digestion plant, where it is composted to produce gas that is burnt in gas engines to generate electricity for the national grid.

“The compost thus produced is used in land remediation projects,” she added.

All mixed waste collected by cleansing services at the events in Leicester is delivered to the council’s Mechanical Biological Treatment plant at Bursom. The waste is mechanically separated into four categories – metals for recycling; light plastics, paper and cardboard which is sent to Energy from Waste facilities to produce electricity; organics for composting and the processing rejects that are sent to landfill.

“To add to this, we have made recent changes in energy efficiency,” Shutt explained. “We used to use 15 watt lamps in the spans and column decorations, and there are around 4,000 of them. The latest LED lamps we use are now rated at 0.5 watts each so the savings are huge, a reduction from 60,000 watts to 2,000 watts.”

In London, City Hall is also making steps to go green. The Diwali on Trafalgar Square event is due to take place on November 3. Thousands are expected to enjoy live music, dance performances, food and community stalls and family friendly craft activities.

Speaking to Eastern Eye, an event spokespersons confirmed there were conscious efforts to make the Diwali festival more environment friendly.

No traders at the Diwali festival will use single use plastic and commercially-compostable, lower carbon, plant-based catering products will be recommended to the traders.

In addition to these, a zero-to-landfill planning strategy would be in place for the event while food recycling services will be utilised to reduce overall waste. Mixed-recycling provision will be made, the spokesperson added.

A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: “The Mayor believes that we all must play our part if we are to tackle the climate emergency. That’s why we insist events on Trafalgar Square take steps to ensure they are sustainable. By choosing to avoid single-use plastics,  donating surplus food and encouraging recycling, we can all play our part in helping the festivities to be both enjoyable and environmentally-friendly.”

Elsewhere, a number of Durga Puja celebrations took place across the country earlier this month. The annual Hindu festival pays homage to goddess Durga. It is seen as a time for reunion and rebirth, and as a celebration of traditional culture and customs.

The charity London Sharad Utsav (LSU) organised the Green Durga Puja which took place in the first weekend of October at the Ealing Town Hall.

Suranjan Som, the vice president of LSU and a director of Bengal Heritage Foundation, told Eastern Eye that organisers were conscious to make the event as green as possible.

Each year, Som explained, between 8,000 to 10,000 people visit the Town Hall to celebrate the Hindu festival. Organisers serve free food and drink, which amounted to a large amount of waste due to the single-use plastic. Now, the team has ensured that all natural products were used to serve any food or beverages.

“In addition to that, we have a huge social media awareness campaign going on about being green,” he said. “We are promoting the concept and making sure that it is awareness at all levels, including the practicality of being as green as possible.”

He also paid tribute to LSU president Anirban Mukhopadhyay, who initially suggested that the celebrations should be environment friendly.

“It was his brainchild to not only have a ‘Green Puja’ this year but also recreate the streets and landmarks of Kolkata within the different corners of the Ealing Town Hall,” Som said.