Zero Waste Week 2017

Welcome to Dublin’s Zero Waste Week from September 4th—10th 2017.

Monday

7pm to 8pm: Introduction to Zero Waste Timi

An introduction to the topic by Timi Nicholson, one of the founding members and admins of the Zero Waste Ireland Group. The talk will be followed by a Q&A so pop in and have all your questions answered.

Timi is passionate about sustainable living. Timi and her husband embarked on their Zero Waste journey not long after their first child was born, in 2015. Since then, Timi has been featured in major publications such as the Irish Examiner and Greennews.ie, in addition to appearing on Eco Eye, Ireland’s longest running environmental programme. She has given several talks on eco-friendly habits and Zero Waste Living at different forums from the Earth Baby Fair to LinkedIn’s headquarters in Dublin. Timi has a Masters in Regional Development and she currently volunteers for both the Cloth Nappy Library Ireland and the Conscious Cup campaign.

8pm to 9pm: Zero Waste Comedy Hosted by Diane O‘Connor

Our comedy host Diane O’Connor is a well-known Dublin comedian who looks forward to bring her two passions together - comedy and the environment - in what will be hopefully a funny inspiring affair! So if you want to laugh with your fellow zero-wasters about your daily adventures and challenges as an eco-warrior, come along! You will experience a compilation stand-up show of some Dublin’s comedy clubs top comedians featuring Elaine Gallagher, Tomie James, Pauline Shanahan, Iain O’Connor, Brian Gallagher and Pauline Curtain.

Diane is a stand-up comedian from Dublin who made her performance debut aged 7 in her sitting room in front of family audience, since then she has performed around Ireland, London and Edinburgh. Currently Diane is a regular on the Dublin comedy scene. Diane is also a founder member and performer with The Splendid Lunatics Improv who have been making Dublin laugh since 2012. Last year Diane wrote and performed her first solo show “Pregnant and Standing” last year while very pregnant. This year brings the sequel, “Breastfeeding Alfresco (and other adventures)”.

Tuesday - Coming Clean

6.30pm to 7.30pm Smells Like Clean Spirit Molly Aylesbury

While most of the ads will have you believing that you need to wage war on the germs in your house with a myriad of antibacterial and strong smelling chemicals, this is simply not the case. Bacteria will also succumb to hot water, pantry staples and a little elbow grease. Sorry Mr. Muscle! Join this workshop to learn how to make your own grime busting cleaners. From dealing with dirty clothes to the dreaded bathroom, say goodbye to stubborn stains and questionable cleaning products. Molly will show you how to have your kitchen scrubbed, your bathroom sparkling, your socks smelling delicious.

7.30pm to 8.30pm Alternative Haircare by AB Soap Studio

Join this talk if you would like to learn about hair care alternatives that do not come in plastic and consist merely of what nature has to offer. You will find out what herbs, botanicals and procedures would best suit your hair type and how you can make them yourself. We will also discuss no-poo, how to survive the dreaded “transition period” and how to best detox your hair. This talk is free and you will be able to purchase loose ingredients, get your own freshly mixed hair care formula, or pick up a conditioning shampoo bar by AB studio - Clean Design.

5.30pm - 8.30pm Zero Waste Shopping

As a part of the day, we will have market stalls ready where you will be able to purchase ingredients for your cleaning experiments in bulk or ready-made eco solutions without packaging - as refills of your own containers. There will be Bring Your Own, Bare Necessities, Sonnett and also SmallChanges with a range of cleaning alternatives.

Wednesday

5pm to 7pm Make Your Own Cloth Bag with Sophie Rieu

Sophie Rieu is hosting a workshop on how to upcycle a piece of clothing into your own cloth bag. Why? When you buy loose fruit & veggies, dry goods or whatever takes your fancy, pop it in your cloth bag and avoid the plastic ones. We will provide the use of sewing machines, just bring a piece of clothing to transform and a sharp pair of scissors.

Sophie Rieu is a French fashion designer based in County Wicklow who has been creating sustainable fashion collections for 14 years. She has been passionate about all things green for as long as she can remember. Sophie has taught many upcycling classes so she is used to varied sewing skills.

6pm to 7pm Grow Your Own Veggie Garden with Andrew Jordan

Have you ever thought about growing your own food but you don’t know where or how to start? Join us for an hour-long workshop where you can learn the basics - where to place your garden, what does the soil need, what are the best crops for starters and more! Andrew Jordan will show you how to become an urban gardener.

7pm to 8pm Rescue Meal Dinner - Food donated by Foodcloud

We would like to invite you to a food rescue meal and movie screening to raise awareness about food waste. The home-cooked vegetarian meal will be made from surplus food that would have otherwise been wasted, until it was rescued by Foodcloud. They connect the surplus food with charities and help support 3,600 social and community partnerships. The meal will be served at 7pm. Then sit back and digest while you watch ‘Just Eat It’.

8pm to 9.30pm Just Eat It Movie Screening

Join us for a free screening of ‘Just Eat It’. We all love food. As a society, we devour countless cooking shows, culinary magazines and foodie blogs. So how could we possibly be throwing nearly 50% of it in the trash? Filmmakers and food lovers Jen and Grant dive into the issue of waste from farm, through retail, all the way to the back of their own fridge. After catching a glimpse of the billions of dollars of good food that is tossed each year in North America, they pledge to quit grocery shopping cold turkey and survive only on foods that would otherwise be thrown away.

Thursday - Babies

Have you noticed how much waste is generated since the arrival of your baby? Want the best for your little one but still want to care for the environment and your pocket! Adapting elements of the Zero Waste lifestyle can have benefits for all the family.

10.00 - 11.00 ZW 101 Timi

11.00 - 12.00 Modern Cloth Nappies Demo and Q&A Cloth Nappy Library Ireland

Cloth Nappy Library Ireland will have a talk and demonstration. See how easy modern cloth nappies are to use and how kind they are to baby skin.

12.00 - 13.00 ZW Parents Networking

Everyone is welcome. No fee. Bring the kids.

Earthmother and Little Green Shop are joining us on the day so you view their products. There will be also a breastfeeding support group, Toy Swap (bring a toy, take a toy), fun for the kids, chats and of course, a cuppa!

Thursday — What We Wear

17.00 - 19.00 Befriending Your Sewing Machine by Molly

Do your dreams of making-it-yourself fall apart in the cold reality of not knowing one end of a sewing machine from the other? Then this drop-in class might just be your solution. Covering the basics of how to thread your machine, answering your questions and showing you how to sew, plan a pattern and even some hand stitching, this is a 101 Get-Yourself-Started class. Need a little help knowing your spool from a bobbin? Never fear, no question is silly and we all started somewhere! Drop in for 5 minutes to clarify something or a little longer to start a project with our machine.

18.00 - 19.00 Discover the Rediscovery Centre by Carrie Ann Moran

The Rediscovery Centre is a creative space connecting people, ideas and resources. They bring together the skills and expertise of artists, scientists, designers and craftsmen united in a common purpose of sustainability through resource efficiency and reuse. The Rediscovery Centre supports the development of the circular economy and advocates for a more resilient, equitable society.

The Centre has four reuse social enterprises Rediscover Furniture, Rediscover Fashion, Rediscover Paint and Rediscover Cycling. Theses enterprises use waste and unwanted materials as a resource and raw material for new product design.

The Rediscovery Centre is based in the newly repurposed Boiler House in Ballymun. The building has been developed as a prototype ‘3D textbook’ a relatively new concept in experiential learning and the first of its kind in Europe. The centre demonstrates best practice building design, construction and operation and defines the building and environs as an educational tool to inspire, inform and lead positive behavioural change with respect to resource management and efficiency and Carrie Ann Moran will tell us all about it.

Fast-fashion has led to clothes being seen as disposable. The industry moves quickly and produces huge amounts of waste. Clothes are worn just a few times before they are discarded. Nu. believes that clothes ought to be well-designed, well-kept, and used for their total lease of life. Nu. is a start-up and community that seeks to encourage people to make sustainable choices and provides alternatives to the fast-fashion. In September, The Nu. Wardrobe will be launched. This is an online clothes sharing platform that allows members to share and swap clothes rather than buy brand new. In this talk, Ali Kelly, Co-Founder of Nu., will be talking about Nu.’s journey so far, her tips for shopping sustainably and how the sharing and circular economy is the future of fashion.

19.45 - 20.00 How Your Clothes Can Help Those in Need by Dublin Simon Community

Declutter your closet, refresh your wardrobe, save money and support a good cause - all leftover clothing will be donated to charity. Bring any clean women’s, men’s or children’s clothes and pick some instead! Clothes’ drop-off from 6pm, swap shop open from 8pm!

20.00 - 21.30 SwapShop by ZWF

If sustainable fashion is your thing, why not pay visit to some of our stalls on the day! Sustain Sister (with their Sustain / Buy and Sister / Borrow collections) and The Weed Solution, along with Fiesta Crafts will bring along their creations for you!

Friday — Rethinking Waste

Becoming Zero Waste is a journey. Along the way we learn about all the ‘R’s: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Rot! But how much do we really know about them?

12.00 - 1pm Recycling Workshop by VOICE - Voice of Irish Concern for the Environment

We will have a talk about what exactly can go in your recycling bin with Mindy O’Brien from VOICE so that you don’t have to ever again wonder what to do with that pizza box!

1pm - 2pm Repak Workshop

What do all the endless arrows and numbers mean? If you don’t know but would love to, joins us for this plastic awareness workshop and educate yourself about all the PETs, HDPEs, PPs and all the rest!

2pm - 3pm Composting Workshop by Bridgefoot Street Community Garden

If rotting confuses you, pop along to our Composting Workshop! You will learn about what composter will work for you, what you can do with it and most importantly, how to use it!

3pm - 5pm Zero Waste Workshop by The Other Mother

Interested in learning how to sew your own pads and liners from upcycled materials? Other Mother is hosting a workshop showing how to get away from pink tax and plastic, bleached menstrual products by making your own pads and liners.

What you will learn on the day:

Learn the basics of using a sewing machine/overlocker
How to upcycle fabric and materials from old clothing and sheets
How to sew pads and liners with a detailed patterns
Take home your own pad and liner plus the skills to make as many as you want or need in the future

5pm - 6pm Sustainable Plant-Based Milk by Jenn from The Green Diary

During this workshop you will learn how to make plant-based milk from nuts, seeds and grains while learning which products are most eco-friendly, nutritious and affordable.

6pm - 7pm Fermentation & Probiotics

Neil Barrett from Fermentation Ireland have been selling various types of fermentation cultures online from sourdoughs (where his real interest was born) to scobies and the like. He has been fermenting for many years, his sourdough is nearly 20 years old and he ferments almost anything - milk kefir was my first scoby which then turned into water kefir, kombucha, jun (his favourite) made with honey and green tea. Vegetable fermentations such as hot sauces, pickles, sauerkrauts, kimchi, garlic scapes, beetroot kvas and so on…come along to his workshop on Friday and learn a thing or two! Before you know it, your life might be overtaken by cultures growing everywhere (and that’s a good thing!).

7pm - 8pm Eating Food Waste Anxiety by The Endy Bit

Avoiding food waste doesn’t have to mean frugal food; it can lead to new experiences of deliciousness. Take a culinary journey with The Endy Bit

8.30pm - 10.30pm Screening of ‘Bag It’

Join us for a screening of this light-hearted movie and bring your own bottle to it! Celebrate the Zero Waste Week with us and get ready for the big day (Saturday, that is!)

The story of the movie follows Jeb Berrier, an average American guy who is admittedly not a “tree hugger,” who makes a pledge to stop using plastic bags. His girlfriend, Anne, joins him in the challenge to decrease their use of plastic at home. This small action gets Jeb thinking about plastic - not just about plastic bags, but other kinds of plastic. “What is plastic made of? Is it recyclable? Does it decompose when it ends up in the landfill? Does plastic have negative health effects?” Jeb wants to learn more, so he embarks on a global tour to unravel the complexities of our plastic world.

Sunday

12.00 - 13.00 Bridgefoot Street Community Garden Tour by Richard Talpin

We start the day in the community garden at midday for a tour of the allotment and a taster of all the great activities going on there. It’s a fantastic resource for the local community with projects that benefit all ages. At the garden there will be a refreshment table to raise funds for the garden so bring your travel mug!

13.00 - 14.30 Getting To Know Our Native Wildflowers (Cork Street) Wildflowers Walks Ireland

Very little makes us appreciate nature and want to work to conserve it more than a walk in the country admiring the wildflowers. However, you don’t need to go that far to see our native plants. Join us to explore the wilder side of the concrete jungle. We will show you how to identify what you are looking at, a little of their history, their importance for biodiversity and what you can do to help. Also if they happen to be a delicious variety we will tell you how to enjoy it! There’s no packaging on wild and Autumn is peak foraging season ;) This is an outdoor event so please dress for the Irish weather- grass and potentially mud!

The small print: Please wear appropriate footwear, and wear appropriate clothing. Please wear boots or waterproof shoes with good grip. There might be some muddy or wet parts. Anyone taking part does so at their own risk. Eating plants on this walk or on subsequent adventures is at your own risk. Wrongly identified plants on subsequent walks is done at your own risk. Please consult guidebooks where appropriate

15.00 - 17.00 Zero Waste Comedy Diane O’Connor

Join us to close the festival for an afternoon of stand-up from some Dublin’s comedy clubs’ funniest comedians performing material inspired by Zero Waste in The Ha’Penny Bridge Inn where we will turn your waste into comedy gold!

Featuring Elaine Gallagher, Tomie James, Pauline Shanahan, Iain O’Connor, Brian Gallagher and Pauline Curtain. Hosted by Diane O’Connor.

Promises to be a brilliant night to finish of this amazing festival. No entry charge, pay what you can. Doors @ 3pm, show 3:30pm.