Green Policy
Ever aware of the importance of protecting the environment, Carnival Funfairs has launched a major policy to reduce carbon emissions with the target of becoming Carbon Neutral by 31st March 2010. Joseph Manning, company Managing Director, has undertaken that he is fully committed to achieving this. Joseph avowably states:
“It is too easy to try and opt out of this subject by claiming it is too expensive, or that there are special reasons why we cannot do anything about the way we work, but too many people take this view and we will not follow their path.”
The company will achieve this without passing on the costs to customers, whether at our public festivals or at other events and hires by properly managing work in the future and by staged reductions in emissions.
The first stage was to undertake a full environmental audit of all our functions. We have already begun to look at the environmental impact of our work because offsetting is not enough; we want to make an actual reduction over our set timescale to achieve this ambitious target and get any Manning run event Carbon Neutral.
Fairgrounds are heavy users of fuel and unfortunately contribute to emissions from not only their operation on sites as they run rides, but by their reliance on transport to move from place to place. We must look to adapt the vehicles and the generators needed to produce power on sites so that they use Bio Diesel instead of normal diesel, subject to confirmation that Bio Diesel is environmentally sustainable. We are looking at energy saving lighting on site and are finding imaginative ways of decorating our fairs without excessively using scarce resources.
However there are other functions that must be considered, such as administration in the office and the generation of paper based documents are a part of this. We will also cut down on unnecessary car journeys to meetings and review the efficiency of our personal car fleet.
It is evident that fairs generate a considerable amount of detritus from their operations, and whilst we are careful in collecting such rubbish and removing it from the areas in which we work, we are to improve in separating recyclable materials from general rubbish and disposing of them in the correct way. We will push to ensure that all refreshments sold at events are in recyclable containers and that there are plenty of receptacles around for such materials to be placed in by the public. All products sold shall be from Fairtrade suppliers.
We must look at use of water in our fairs, because water is a scarce resource too. We will ensure that we are not needlessly wasteful in our work and are already taking measures to conserve the water we use.
Finally, and with most exciting potential, is that we hereby offer any and all organisations, local or national, space at our fairs to promote environmental awareness. We will work with them to adapt the fun games at our fairs so that they educate whilst they amuse.
Even though we have started changes, we know that these aims cannot be achieved overnight. We are aware that neither the public or our corporate clients are keen to pay more because the fair is more environmentally sound; they will admire our aims but may still take their business to cheaper alternatives! This is why we have set to implement our changes over a period of time. Whilst implementing this, we will be continuing to provide great value entertainment for everyone at our public fairs and in all our work. Do not hesitate to contact us as we would welcome ideas and comments on this. We know with your help, we can achieve our targets and pave the way for others.
As Joseph states:
“Taking on the challenge against climate change will serve to bring out the best of our resourcefulness and imagingation, where our changes can be as important as the forerunners gone by. We will lead the fight and hope others follow in our footsteps to make a difference.”