Sustainable MIF - Economic, Social, Environmental
At MIF we understand ‘Sustainability’ to be about creating an enduring, balanced approach on three fronts: economic, social and environmental. In practice that means a careful approach to our financial resources to ensure the most positive effects on local and national economies; approaching all our partners and colleagues with respect and with care for the effect we have on local communities on the environment. We try to work sustainably across all of our activities – from ensuring that our offices are resource efficient; to sourcing and creating our productions responsibly and to working with our partner venues and suppliers to reduce the environmental impact of our events.
What are we doing to make the Festival more sustainable?
MIF was the first international festival to be independently certified as meeting BS 8901 – the new British Standard for Sustainable Event Management – in recognition for its improvements in sustainability and we are now working towards the ISO20121 certification, as developed via LOCOG and London 2012.
We are always aiming to improve our positive impact on the local economy, communities and environment and previous initiatives have included:
• Launching MIF Creative, our community engagement programme with activities including large-scale commissions led by leading international artists working with local communities. Over 4000 local participants took part in 2011.
• Securing funding from ACE and MLNW to set up a working group for Cultural Partners across the City to work together to make the industry greener; Julie’s Bicycle facilitaes the group which currently stands at 25 members
MIF has an enthusiastic Green Team, representing each department of the Organisation. The Green Team meet regularly to discuss the environmental impact of the programme and ways to reduce any negative side effects. Through this work and the overall commitment of all MIF staff, previous successes include :
• ALL MIF11 Production sets were re-used, hired or recycled; none of the Production sets were sent to landfill after Festival; for example, ‘Music Boxes’ was built entirely out of rented shipping containers which have subsequently gone on to other uses – including those customized for the show, and ‘That Day We Sang’ set was recycled
• Recycling bins were utilized across Festival Square and all tableware was compostable. The introduction of a Waste Manager ensured that only 21% of all waste was sent to landfill in 2011
• MIF worked with MCC Town Hall services department to secure and install a permanent electricity supply for events on the square that means that the use of generators should be reduced to almost nothing for all events on Albert square
• Recycling Festival banners into ‘Banner Bags’ and selling them on Festival Square
• Using vegetable inks and recycled/recyclable materials as much as possible across Marketing materials
How can you get involved?
The Green Team Lead for MIF 2013 is Gemma Saunders – to suggest new ideas and ways to improve sustainability at MIF please email email sustainability@mif.co.uk