Missed the last edition of the Festival? All of the talks from our recent Zero Waste Festival at the Science Gallery Dublin are now available to watch on our website and our new YouTube channel. Check them out!
Talks in the Paccar Theatre
| Day 01 | Day 02 |
|---|---|
| Waste not want not: The danger and value of our bin content Brian Kelleher |
Zero Waste 101 Íde Mhic Gabhann |
| Zero lab waste – Pipe-dream or possible? Una Fitzgerald |
Precious Plastic?! – Facts and figures on global plastic abundance and what we can do about it Celia Somlai |
| The World of Waste - how to get to Zero Michele Hallahan |
Bio-Plastic Fantastic Trevor Woods |
| Refuse, Reduce, Reuse: Zero Waste Living in Dublin (Panel Discussion) various |
The ECOmedy Hour various |
Waste not want not: The danger and value of our bin content with Brian Kelleher
Brian Kelleher is an environmental chemistry lecturer in the School of Chemical Science, Dublin City University. Much of his research involves the investigation of carbon and its transformation from one medium to the next, be it during the search for extra-terrestrial life or the recycling of waste. Brian will talk about opportunities and challenges for high value solutions for municipal residual waste. Although Ireland is set to meet the 2020 European target on the decrease of municipal solid waste in landfill, the targets outlined for 2030 will require an increased diversion of waste from landfill. At present, bio-stabilised residual waste is treated as waste and only approved for disposal in landfills or by incineration, which is not sustainable and contributes towards landfill capacity. There is strong evidence that compost from such waste can enhance soil nutritional status and crop productivity. A diverse range of technologies are available to convert municipal solid waste into biofuels and/or energy outputs. And Brian will talk about some of these.
Zero lab waste – pipe-dream or possible? with Una Fitzgerald
“People who work in labs are using approximately 15 times more plastic than the average person in Ireland”, says Dr. Una Fitzgerald, the Director of the Galway Neuroscience Centre and a funded investigator in CÚRAM, the SFI Research Centre for Medical Devices based at NUI Galway, which is the first research lab in Europe to be awarded Green Lab Certification, the global standard for laboratory sustainability best practice. Una will share her story of achieving this certification as part of the Galway Green Labs initiative and how a lab can lead the transitions to sustainable practises across the campus to address issues such as plastic waste, energy reduction, recycling, and water usage.
The World of Waste - how to get to Zero with Michele Hallahan
Michele Hallahan has worked in the fields of ecological design, environmental management and sustainability consulting for over twenty years. Starting with a global overview of sustainability in general, and some juicy waste statistics, she will explain the key confusing definitions and obstacles that trip us up when doing our best to recycle/reduce waste. What does ‘biodegradable’ mean? Is ‘compostable’ the same as ‘recyclable’ (answer: NO!), and what do the symbols on our packaging mean? How do you get on the Zero Waste journey? Being the Sustainability Advisor to the Office of the Provost at Trinity College Dublin, Michele will answer all your questions about waste.
Refuse, Reduce, Reuse: Zero Waste Living in Dublin (Panel Discussion)
Join us for our panel discussion on Zero Waste Living in Dublin. We will hear what saying “No!” to single-use items and unnecessary packaging means for several of our fellow Dubliners. We are happy to have the following Zero Wasters on stage for a moderated discussion, followed by an open Q&A.
Naomi Sheridan, opened Noms just over 14 months ago, in the hope of offering a unique shopping experience to the local northside community of Phibsborough. The shop has seen steady growth over the last few months, as more and more shoppers look to make more sustainable and ethical shopping decisions. Noms stands for Natural, Organic, Mindful and Sustainable, the four pillars which Noms is built on. As climate change and plastic pollution take centre stage, Noms offers customers the opportunity to stock up their pantry without the use of any plastic packaging. Naomi has spent most of her pre-noms career working in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry with major multinationals such as Mars Petcare, Heineken and General Mills, but decided after having her daughter, it was time to make a change, and look to follow a more holistic lifestyle.
Zdenka Thunder is a zero-waste advocate who lives in Dublin and shares her tips and tricks for living a more sustainable life on her platform, Coming To Zero. If she’s not working or training on her circus skills, you’ll most likely find her in the garden trying to coax vegetables out of the ground or in the kitchen/laboratory where she passionately fills glass jars with everything and anything that couldn’t be allowed to go to waste, after all, she is a certified EPA’s Stop Food Waste trainer. Zdenka also helps to organise the Zero Waste Festival and gives the occasional workshop on practical ways to give our planet the helping hand it needs.
Elaine Butler of Living Lightly in Ireland is a sustainable living writer and speaker based in Dublin. She cuts through all the greenwashing out there to deliver simple, practical advice for anyone wanting to live more sustainably. She has been featured on the Irish TV programme Nationwide and in The Irish Times and The Irish Independent newspapers, appeared on the Claire Byrne Live Show on RTE and spoke on radio stations about living with less plastic. She has also given talks at the Airfield Food Festival, The Love your Home Show exhibit and Bloom in the Park.
Ciarán Smyth background is in science research, and he has been working on minimising waste and consumption since 2016. In early 2017, he and his wife Íde set up the Bring Your Own market stall to provide zero-waste shopping in Dublin and the surrounding area. At the end of 2018 he teamed up with the health and wholefoods store Noms in Phibsborough to help with the package-free ethos of the store. He is particularly interested in minimising food waste, and trying to source as locally as possible.
Zero Waste 101 with Íde Mhic Gabhann
An introduction to Zero Waste. Íde will guide you through the 5R’s, giving tips on easy wins and long term goals. She’ll talk about how to keep motivated and the unexpected benefits!
Íde is 4 years into her zero waste journey, which began with the idea of a “buy nothing new” year to address her consumption and quickly escalated from there. An avid traveller, she questions what we consider “normal” and takes inspiration from aspects of sustainability from around the world. She believes that our individual actions will help shape future policy, that you can make any change if you really want to, and that every small change is victory… many of which she documents on Instagram as Itseasyifyouwantto
Precious Plastic?! – Facts and figures on global plastic abundance and what we can do about it with Celia Somlai
Have you ever wondered how much plastic has been generated in total on this planet? And how much of that plastic actually has been recycled? Which industry produces the largest amount of plastic annually? Or which polymer is the most commonly used worldwide? Come to this informative talk to learn not only about the latest facts and figures, but also about practical solutions to this global challenge. Celia will also introduce you to the Precious Plastic universe, an alternative, grass roots, plastic recycling community.
Celia Somlai is an environmental activist and researcher who is trying to live a low impact lifestyle. She has been deeply involved with the Zero Waste movement in Dublin for the last couple of years. She is the co-founder of Precious Plastic Dublin, a volunteer collective working on practical solutions to plastic waste in Dublin. Her personal interest and concern about the global plastic overconsumption led to her current academic research on Irish and European packaging waste statistics at UCD. You can follow her Zero Waste adventures on Instagram and her blog.
Bio-Plastic Fantastic with Trevor Woods
Trevor Woods who has previously carried out research on bio-degradable plastics will present a talk on current Bio-degradable plastic research and bio-degradable plastic options available to replace standard use single plastics at home and at festivals. He will also showcase how artists are communicating the current plastic pollution problem and give examples of his own recycled plastic artwork to highlight the need for plastic education and change.
The ECOmedy Hour
Join us for an hour of clever comedy where some of Dublin’s funniest comedians will turn topical environmental issues into comedy gold. There will be no jokes wasted here!
The line-up includes Pauline Shanahan (Vodafone Comedy Festival), Elaine Gallagher (Edingburgh Fringe Festival), Gary Tyrell (Bright Club Ireland), Sean Begley (Bray Comedy Festival New Act of the Year) , Anne Gill (Comedy Gold), Ian Lynham (Vodaphone Comedy Festival) hosted by Diane O’Connor (Electric Picnic).
You will laugh, learn & leave feeling positively fired up! Find out more on the ECOmedy Hour Facebook Event.