Published Date: 22/01/2025
Sustainability is fundamental to Deptford Literature Festival. We acknowledge the climate emergency and the impacts it is having on our communities in Lewisham.
We are committed to mitigating the environmental impacts of creating a live festival, reducing our carbon footprint and advocating for action on climate change, through:
- Promoting and sign-posting Festival goers, artists, suppliers and team to use local public transport links or to walk or cycle to attend the Festival;
- Reducing use of single use plastic by providing drinking water in glass bottles and recyclable cups in workshop spaces in Deptford Lounge and having a water dispenser in the foyer for filling water bottles;
- Reducing printed paper usage with all Festival events bookable online for digital tickets;
- Using email, social media and the Festival website to communicate about the Festival;
- Producing our Festival brochure online and printed using recyclable material using FSC standard paper, and ensuring it is recycled after its use;
- Prioritising working with local organisations and businesses as suppliers to keep travel down to a minimum and help keep money circulating within the local community;
- Working with our partner venues, we operate a system through which we seek to recycle the maximum amount of waste produced on site;
- Programming talks, workshops and artistic responding to the natural world, directly addressing the relationship between people and the environment, shining a light on some of the most critical issues of our times.
We welcome your thoughts and ideas on how we can continue to improve the sustainability of the Festival. Please email: [email protected]
Environmental Impact Report 2025
For the 2025 Festival we worked with Helen Freudenberg, an Environmental Impact Evaluator, to:
- Establish a baseline for understanding the festival’s environmental impact.
- Identify areas of improvement related to sustainability.
- Create practical recommendations for future iterations of the festival.
- Develop a monitoring framework for ongoing assessment.
- Compare the impact of digital vs in-person delivery.
You can read the report here: Environmental Impact Report 2025
We will be taking forward the report’s recommendations as part of future festivals.
